The Environment Secretary’s latest stance on potentially importing chemically washed chicken from the US, risks watering down British food standards and creating a dangerous two-tier food system with the less well-off forced to accept lower standards. British Poultry Council (BPC), the trade association representing the nation’s £7.2billion poultry industry, is determined to carry on putting food on every table and ensuring British food grown to British standards remains accessible and affordable for all.
BPC Chief Executive, Richard Griffiths, said:
“British poultry producers don’t dip their chicken carcase in chemicals as we do not ‘clean up at the end’ or take any short-cuts when it comes to producing food. Britons demand safe, wholesome, and nutritious food; world-class animal welfare; production that respects the environment; food that is affordable and available; and a sustainable and secure supply chain. Post-Brexit deals must respect that. British farmers have worked incredibly hard to build a food system that ensures high standards of production from farm to fork.
It’s Government’s duty to ensure that production standards of imported food meet British standards as a condition of entry. If food produced to lower standards is allowed to enter the British market, it will create a two-tier food system, in which only the affluent can afford to eat British food grown to British standards. This is unacceptable.
Losing control of how we feed ourselves as a nation would undermine British food producers at a time when we should be looking to use Brexit as an opportunity to take matters of food security, nutrition, and sustainability into our own hands.”
