Brexit a threat to UK food hygiene, animal welfare standards - report

Britain's food hygiene and animal welfare standards could come under threat from Brexit, an all-party House of Lords committee said on Tuesday.

A day after International Trade Secretary dismissed safety concerns during a trip to Washington over the possibility of chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef being exported to the UK.

Both products are banned under EU rules, but the committee said once the UK left the bloc British farmers would face stiff competition from “cheap, imported food from countries that produce to lower standards than the UK”.

“Therefore, the government's wish for the UK to become a global leader in free trade is not necessarily compatible with its desire to maintain high animal welfare standards,” it added.

"The UK has some of the highest farm animal welfare standards in the world and UK producers are rightly proud of those. We see no reason why Brexit should diminish those, as long as the government is aware of the challenges ahead and acts accordingly.

FOX CHALLENGED TO EAT CHICKEN

Fox, a leading proponent of Brexit, came under fire during his trip to say explicitly whether the UK was prepared to lift its ban on the treated chickens.

As it started to overshadow his trip with headlines of, the Trade Secretary was challenged to eat a chlorine-washed chicken on live television. "Fox challenged to eat chicken" headlines were soon up and running.

“In a debate which should be about how we make our contribution to global liberalisation and the increased prosperity of both the UK, the US and our trading partners, the complexities of those...the British media are obsessed with chlorine-washed chickens, a detail of the very end-stage of one sector of a potential free trade agreement. I say no more than that,” he said.

The British Poultry Council said it rejected the idea of chlorine-washed chickens imports “as part of a makeweight in trade negotiations with the US”.

“Exporting a crucial food sector such as British poultry meat will undermine the UK’s 'farm to fork' approach and the high welfare standards practised up and down the country. This will be a betrayal to our farmers and will throw away British farming,” the council said in a statement.

Its chief executive, Richard Griffiths, said “any compromise on standards will not be tolerated”.

“A secure post-Brexit deal must be about Britain’s future food security and safety. This is a matter of our reputation on the global stage.”

In Brussels, Fox's remarks that any chicken deal would be an insignificant detail drew a harsh response.

Gianni Pittella, leader of the socialist group in the European parliament, said: “I’m sure British citizens will be enthusiastic to go from the EU high standard control over chicken and food to the chlorinated, full of hormones, US chicken."

“It is just a further indigestible gift from Tories and their Brexit. Luckily for British citizens, UK won’t be allowed to strike new free trade agreements as long as the Brexit process has not reached a conclusion,” the Guardian quoted him as saying.

“This news reinforces why the EU will eventually need to have checks and controls on goods coming from the UK. We won’t accept a race to the bottom on standards.”

A EU senior official also told the newspaper that Brussels had been surprised by the lack of knowledge shown by senior British politicians in their approach to the negotiations.

He added that while the UK was likely to avoid tariffs on many goods under any free trade deal with the EU, the apparent openness of London to lower standards below those of the bloc would significantly hinder trade in the future.

“If we look at goods the most important thing about is not tariffs, it is all the rules around it,” the official said. “That is why we invented the single market which is about having one set of rules instead of 28 set of rules. Tariffs in a way are not that difficult. I think we will find a way of avoiding tariffs in the future.

“When the stated aim is to make your own laws, not have the same controls, then we need to have checks. Then any good that travels from one market to another will have to undergo checks to see that it is legal to go on the market.”