UK supermarket chain Waitrose & Partners is addressing concerns surrounding the potential of US-produced chlorinated chicken being stocked on British shelves following Brexit and the subsequent UK-US trade deal. Waitrose’s Executive Director James Bailey outlines the high-end grocer’s position on animal welfare, ethical farming and food quality, saying he would not accept any chlorinated chickens.

“The process of chlorination is not what global health organizations are concerned about – it is what the process represents. US farming systems use chlorine to cleanse birds after they have been slaughtered to get rid of any bacteria and ensure they are safe to eat. This indicates that their living standards are substandard and as a pioneer of high welfare for farm animals in the UK, this is not a standard we would accept,” says James Bailey, Executive Director at Waitrose & Partners.

The UK government’s election manifesto pledges that any deal made will not “compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards. But the issue has been in the spotlight for several months as the UK goes through the transitional period, due to end on December 31, and continues trade talks with a number of countries, including the US. 

And at the heart of these negotiations are food standards which include safety and other issues such as animal welfare and ethics. 

Waitrose flags that local observers – including consumer, environmental and farming groups as well as a large number of parliamentarians – are expressing “real unease.” “They believe that in an effort to win a trade deal for the UK, we could see the standards British farmers have worked so hard to reach and uphold, sacrificed,” asserts Bailey.

Chlorinated chicken, as part of a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US, has been called “the thin end of the wedge” that could impact public health and threaten thousands of jobs in the UK food processing industry. In its open letter, Waitrose also flags other examples of wher it sees evidence of lacking regulation in US produce, ranging from “hormone-treated beef and the extensive use of antibiotics.”

Last December, the collateral interests of the US government in Brexit negotiations emerged from the woodwork in a series of leaked official documents released to the public on the discussion website Reddit. US industry players have previously highlighted that the UK’s departure from strict EU legislation could present lucrative trade opportunities for US exports. 

“Some supporters of American farming systems have argued that British consumers should be able to decide for themselves whether they’d like to buy ‘cheaper’ produce at the cost of lower standards. This, of course, assumes the British public are motivated either by price or by their values, when in fact, I know they expect food businesses to deliver on both simultaneously – no matter what their budget is,” remarks Bailey.

“We know the public cares about this. A recent petition launched by the National Farmers unio (NFU) asked members of the British public to sign up if they wanted ‘the UK government to ensure all food imports are produced to the same high standards as British farmers’ and in a matter of days – with some powerful support from Jamie Oliver – it gathered over one million signatures,” he highlights.

Ensuring a food-safe trade deal
Washing chicken with chlorine has been banned in the EU since 1997, due to food safety concerns. The EU’s issue is not the consumption of chlorine itself, but that such a practice could mask poor hygiene standards, such as dirty abattoirs. Britain and Ireland’s largest unio, Unite, recently warned that public health standards could be compromised if this chicken was allowed to be sold in the UK.

In clarification, Bailey notes that Waitrose does not oppose a UK-US trade deal. “A deal with the US and other countries could provide substantial benefits. We just want to ensure that any negotiated deal is the right one for the UK, British farmers and British consumers.”

On the showfloor of Anuga 2019 in Cologne, Germany, representatives of the US poultry sector spoke to FoodIngredientsFirst about their views on chlorinated chicken concerns. The industry stakeholders noted that overcoming such negative perceptions surrounding chlorinated chicken and its usage rate will be crucial to a fruitful trade deal.

“While we must recognize the important and difficult task the government has in securing our future trade relations, at the same time, we must point out that any regression from the standards we have pioneered for the last 30 years, both as a business and as a country, would be an unacceptable backward step,” he says.

“It would be simply wrong to maintain high standards at home yet import food from overseas that has been produced to lower standards. We would be closing our eyes to a problem that exists in another part of the world and to animals who are out of our sight and our minds. I feel sure customers will share our view,” he concludes.