EU to demand UK keeps ban on chlorinated chicken in trade talks

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA. - Credit: PA

The EU is reportedly planning to demand that the UK keeps its ban on chlorinated chicken as part of trade talks with Brussels.

In a move that will protect European meat exports and create problems for a US trade deal, the Guardian reports France is insisting that a clause is inserted into the negotiating mandate which calls for both sides to protect “health and product sanitary quality in the food and agriculture sector”.

The text – which will appear in the EU chief’s negiotiator Michel Barnier’s document – will allow the EU to ensure that methods of food production used in the US will not be used in the UK.

A fresh row emerged over the weekend after environment secretary George Eustice refused to rule out chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef entering the UK and appearing on supermarket shelves.

The stance has concerned the European Union who fear the impact this could have on British meat and poultry.

The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has also expressed concerns, with its president Minette Batters saying that the government must show “global leadership” by telling potential trading partners around the world that they must “trade on our terms” by adhering to UK food standards.

She said: “We must not tie the hands of British farmers to the highest rung of the standards ladder while waving through food imports which may not even reach the bottom rung.”