BRITAIN must accept US food standards such as chlorinated chicken in any new trade deal with Donald Trump, an American farming boss has insisted.
Head of the American Farm Bureau Zippy Duvall insisted a new UK-US agreement would be voted down by Congress if it didn’t have a major boost for agriculture imports.
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Fears over practices such as washing chicken in chlorine and using genetically modified crops were not “science-based”, he also argued.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton this week pledged the UK will be “first in line” for a trade deal after Brexit.
And talks could see mini deals struck first, sector by sector.
But Mr Duvall rubbished that, saying: “To have a trade treaty and not discuss agriculture would be turning your back on rural America and that’s where a big part of our population lives.”
There are fears in Britain and Europe that a US trade deal would mean a compromise on food standards.
But Mr Duvall added: “There is no scientific basis that says that washing poultry with a chlorine wash just to be safe of whatever pathogens might be on that chicken as it was prepared for the market, should be taken away.
“If there was something wrong with it our federal inspection systems would not be allowing us to use that.”
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