Liam Fox has said British consumers could be allowed to eat chlorine-washed chicken as he hinted the UK would be open to concessions on standards as part of a prospective trade deal with the United States.
The International Trade Secretary risked reopening the row over post-Brexit food standards, as he said there were “no health reasons” why consumers could not eat chlorinated poultry, which is permitted under US laws but banned in the EU.
His comments appear to contradict Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who vowed that the UK would back out of any trade deal with the US that lowered food standards for consumers.
Speaking to the International Trade Select Committee, Mr Fox said: “There are no health reasons why you couldn’t eat chicken that had been washed in chlorinated water.
“Most of the salads in our supermarkets are rinsed in chlorinated water and in terms of reduction of campylobacter bacteria food poisoning, the United States actually has in general much lower levels of campylobacter food poisoning than many countries in Europe.”
Pressed on the issue, he added: “I have no objection to the British public being sold anything that is safe as long as they know what they are eating.
“I am a great believer in giving the British public the choice over what they eat and as long as scientists tell us that it is safe then that should be our guiding principle.”
Mr Fox said markets were moving from “producer protection to consumer precaution” and politicians needed to be guided by the views of the public.
He said: “Clearly there are going to be asks that they [the United States] will want, probably in agricultural sectors.
“We will have to decide whether they would be acceptable as a price for what we would want in terms of US markets.”
Mr Fox said the UK was “not desperate to do an agreement” with the US and it would not agree to a bad deal.
Theresa May moved to reassure MPs on the matter during Prime Minister’s Questions, saying the UK will continue to have “the highest animal welfare standards” after Brexit.
However Labour’s Chris Leslie, who sits on the committee, criticised the comments which he said laid bare the Government’s “flawed” assumption that trade with Europe can be replaced by trade with the rest of the world.
Mr Leslie, a supporter of campaign group Open Britain, said: “He can’t guarantee that trade deals we enjoy through our EU membership will continue unchanged when we leave.
“He was disgracefully complacent about the prospect of a deal with the US leading to a flood of chlorinated chicken invading our supermarkets.
“No number of dodgy deals negotiated by Liam Fox can replace the trade that will be lost as a result of the Government’s reckless ideological choice to leave the single market and the customs union.”
