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US in new push to force chlorinated chicken on UK

The US is once again trying to gets its chlorinated fowl into UK markets, a strategy linked to their push for chlorinated chicken exports. Reportedly, it’s happening because of the collapse of an equally bad (if not worse) AI tech deal:

‘Farm to fork’

AsĀ Farming UKĀ have reported, British regulators are against chlorinated chicken because it’s at odds with the UK’s ‘farm to fork’ ethos. The UK is supposed to prioritise hygiene and welfare standards, the Americans, meanwhile, make up for laxer standards with an end-of-process chlorine rinse.

As we’ve reported before, the UK is far from perfect when it comes to welfare standards. However, accepting chlorinated chicken would be a step back; it means there’s work to be done getting our own house in order.

This is all happening now because the US-UK technology deal has faltered. In part, it’s due to the Americans’ position that the UK’s Online Safety Act will have a detrimental impact on their tech sector. We have voiced our own criticisms of the Online Safety Act, with Steve Topple writing in July this year:

When both the left and the right are united in their disdain for a piece of legislation, you know there must be something up. So, enter the Online Safety Act: a law so riddled with corruption, incompetence, and authoritarianism that youā€™d be forgiven for agreeing with Nigel Farage. But exactly what are the problems with this Tory written, Labour-allowed piece of legislation?

He added:

While the Online Safety Act was sold as a childā€‘safety milestone, critics argue itā€™s structurally incapable of delivering that outcome. Campaigners from organisations including Barnardoā€™s, the Molly Rose Foundation andā€ÆCARE UK warn that loopholes around algorithmic recommendations, autoplay, liveā€‘streaming, and age verification mean the legislation ā€œwill not bring about the changes that children need and deserveā€. Rather than curtail harmful exposure, the law risks becoming symbolic rather than effective.

Since enforcement began on 25ā€ÆJuly, age verificationā€”via ID scans, facial estimation, or mobile verificationā€”has triggered over fiveā€Æmillion age checks per day, mostly on porn sites. But this in turn has driven a rapid surge in VPN downloads as users seek to bypass access controls, shifting minors toward lessā€‘regulated parts of the internet and raising their exposure to greater harms rather than reducing it.

Laws like the Online Safety Act ultimately benefit tech giants, but they also introduce additional layers of oversight. The tech overlords would prefer to get all of the benefits with none of the downsides, which is why they’ve worked so hard to ingratiate themselves with the Trump administration.

Given that US tech oligarchs have attained ungodly levels of power since 2020, we shouldn’t want the UK to be more enmeshed with them, especially on this chlorinated chicken issue. Recent events have demonstrated the power that they have and why they choose to wield it:

Farmers rights

AsĀ Farming UKĀ further note:

For British farmers, the stakes extend beyond poultry. The US is also pushing for greater access for hormone-treated beef, another area where UK standards are stricter than those in America.

Farming unions have warned that accepting such imports would weaken consumer trust in British food and risk eroding the premium attached to UK produce at home and abroad. Sir Keir has previously treated food standards as a red line, rebuffing Mr Trumpā€™s demands to allow chlorinated chicken in exchange for lower tariffs.

Since Labour returned to power, right-wing politicians have been making a big show of supporting farmers and opposing chlorinated chicken. This is ironic given that they didn’t seem to give a shit when the Tories were in power. As journalist Jon Burke recently highlighted, other agriculture deals have gone incredibly poorly for us.

The White House stated that our refusal to accept chlorinated chicken and hormone-pumped beef is an obstacle to them removing the tariffs that Trump introduced earlier this year. As Farming UK noted:

Any decision to relax those rules would carry significant political and economic consequences. Farming leaders argue it would not only threaten livelihoods in the poultry and beef sectors but also set a precedent for weakening food standards more broadly, potentially reshaping the future of British agriculture in trade negotiations yet to come.

Chicken

Starmer clearly wants to give the impression that he’s achieved something. As such, there’s a worry that he’ll accept whatever deal is on the table ā€” possibly even one involving chlorinated chicken ā€” so that he can act like he got a win. This is why it’s important to be clear that no one will accept capitulation to Trump as a victory.

Featured image via BBC

By Willem Moore

This post was originally published on Canary.