UK Doesn’t Want America’s “Dirty” Meat

By Heather Callaghan, Editor

Turns out, the American food system is so filthy, disgusting and deceptive that the UK shudders at the thought of trade. How disgusting is it? The American food system is so degraded, that the UK would have to seriously drop their official standards in order for any deals to move forward.

Not terribly long ago, we reported that Russia warned the UK not to do a trade deal with the United States because of our dismal food system. But even Russia couldn’t foresee just how rotten the U.S. food system really is. Not only do factory farm chickens require chlorine spray to be suitable for consumption, but, legally, salmonella-tainted foods are allowed to be sold. Furthermore, meat can be smattered with fecal material as it makes its way to the grocer.

The UK recently woke up to a sudden boom of factory farms in their country, causing residents to live in unbearable stench and pollution. They’ve gotten a glimpse of factory farm horrors and don’t want any more of that from the U.S. (We don’t want it either!)

Common Dreams reports that “Safety Breaches at US Meat Plants Spark Outcry in UK Over Possible Post-Brexit Trade Deal”:

British food safety experts and lawmakers are raising concerns over a possible post-Brexit trade deal with the United States in light of newly-released records showing serious hygiene breaches in U.S. meat plants.

“We cannot allow this to be a race to the bottom. We should insist the U.S. raises its standards, and guarantees food safety, before we are prepared to allow in U.S. meat imports,” said Kerry McCarthy, a former member of parliament and shadow environment minister.

The outcry comes after U.S. government data showed several instances of safety failures at American packing plants, including the packaging of diseased poultry meat in containers used for food products and the discovery of fecal matter in meat bound for grocery stores.

Health experts also raised alarm over a legal loophole that allows meat containing salmonella bacteria to be sold to Americans.

The British organization Sustain has found that nearly 15 percent of Americans—48 million people—suffer from foodborne illnesses per year. Only about 1.5 percent of people in the U.K. experience food poisoning annually, and only about 10,000 cases of salmonella contamination were found in 2016 compared with one million in the U.S. [emphasis added, H.C.]

U.S. Meat Conditions are So Filthy, UK Shudders at Post-Brexit Trade Deal

Furthermore, Prime Minister Theresa May hasn’t made a stand against lowering food safety standards – a requirement to secure a deal with the U.S. “following Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, angering groups including Sustain.”

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Kath Dalmeny, CEO of Sustain, told the Guardian:

The U.S. has already warned us that we will need to lower our food standards in exchange for a quick trade deal, but we need to fight this hard. They are desperate to sell us their chlorine-washed chicken, but we know chlorine and other unpalatable treatments can mask dirty meat, low hygiene standards, and poor animal welfare, which the U.K. consumer will not stand for.

This article (UK Doesn’t Want America’s “Dirty” Meat) was created by and appeared first at Natural Blaze. It can be reshared with attribution but MUST include link to homepage, bio, intact links and this message. 

 Heather Callaghan is an independent researcher, writer, speaker and food freedom activist. She is the Editor and co-founder of NaturalBlaze as well as a certified Self-Referencing IITM Practitioner.

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Image by Heather Callaghan