Would US trade deal mean the death of the British family farm?

On March 2 Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade, said of the trade negotiations with the US, “if we don’t get the deal we want, we are prepared to walk away, and that includes the red lines on food standards and the NHS”.

It now appears that we are already preparing to concede our red lines on food safety and food standards, with suggestions that the DiT would be willing to allow imports of chlorinated chicken and hormone-pumped beef and pork in return for the payment of nominal tariffs. The US is pressing for the abolition of origin labelling so that consumers will not even be able to tell which foods originate from American industrial agri-units.

We can be rightly proud of the food safety and animal welfare standards that the UK campaigned to be enshrined in EU legislation. Allowing imports of cheap substandard agri-products from the US now will destroy the livelihoods of many British livestock farmers and family farms, and encourage the lowering of welfare and safety standards in this country.

The point about chlorinated chicken is not just that it’s a disgusting idea – it’s that the appalling conditions under which these chickens are raised make it essential. And beef and pork pumped full of hormones banned in Europe threatens to enormously increase the risk of super-bug development in the human population.

As our “shepherdess” MP Maria Caulfield is very familiar with stock-raising and animal welfare issues, and appears to be supportive of the local farming industry.

I hope that she will join with the National Farmers Union in utterly opposing any lowering of safety and welfare standards for agricultural imports, and in insisting on retaining country of origin labelling.