On 10/09/2019 11:05, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Fredxx wrote:
You think the label will say 'The only way this product is suitable for
human consumption was by the addition of chlorine'?

It will probably say "enhanced cleanliness" or something similar. Do you
drink water made "suitable for human consumption was by the addition of
chlorine"?

Good to know you can't see the difference between something which is
necessary and something which isn't.

If adding chlorine was necessary to make chicken safe to eat, why isn't it
used in the UK?

It isn't exactly safe to eat, not if you take preparation into account
as part of that. There are even official warnings about washing raw
chicken under the tap for example:

https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/eat-wel...h-raw-chicken/

Moreover, campylobacter, which is the commonest form of food poisoning
in the UK, comes in the main from eating contaminated cooked chicken:

https://www.food.gov.uk/safety-hygiene/campylobacter

*Any* cheap and easy means of reducing these dangers should surely be
used. And commercial washing of the meat in water containing a pretty
dilute amount of chlorine (about twice the concentration used in a
swimming pool), which leaves no residue and causes no flavour taint, is
surely to be welcomed and encouraged.

Why we don't do it is purely because of rather contemptible EU
anti-competitive rules. Chicken from the USA is sensibly treated in
this way, and is cheaper, but the EU fears free competition from US
chicken in EU markets and would like to prevent it coming in. But it
can't do that under WTO rules, so it artificially bans
'chlorine-washing' of any chicken, for no scientific reason, while
falsely claiming (see above) that our production methods are so much
better that we don't need it.

The upshot of this is that we consumers are put at increased risk of
infection from chicken produced in Europe by EU rules aimed at
preventing competition from chicken produced in the USA.

Our safety does not come first where the EU is concerned.

I'm sure you'll be perfectly happy eating contaminated food which is only
made safe by adding chemicals. To save a few pennies. Especially since
chicken in the UK is already the cheapest meat you can buy.

It's still contaminated. That's why we have all those dire warnings
about not washing it and cooking it properly.

It's what you Brexiteers are all about, isn't it? Being able to buy the
very cheapest product from anywhere and sod our local producers.

Safety should come first. Don't you agree?