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U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

latimes.com

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Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#141

Post by djohnston »

lhopki01 wrote: post #89
mech1234 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems to me like the real motivation is defending their own agricultural industry. American chicken is cheaper and likely just as good. The health claims are weak, everyone can understand protectionism, but it is often masked behind other claimed goals. The data on salmonella is not super solid, but points to higher levels in the U.S. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47440562

Having lived in Europe (UK, France) and North America (Canada) I can assure you that American chicken is not just as good. It's not just chicken. All sorts of meats are worse in quality.

Having lived in the UK and the US, I actually can't tell the difference in any meaningful way. High quality poultry costs more and is better in both places. Both places have sketchy chicken shacks that probably don't use high quality meat, although I CAN assure you that Harold's in Chicago exceeds any chicken shack I've tried in the UK.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#142

Post by gadders »

chriswwweb wrote: post #86
gadders wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just protectionism. It's not like the chicken tastes of bleach. Have you ever eaten food in the US?

Let me return the question, are you are basically saying "if I can't taste it, it can't be bad"? ;)

I'm saying I can't taste it and noticed no ill effects (which admittedly is an anecdote). However, of my friends that have gone to the US, I've never heard any of them say they would be avoiding chicken in case it was chlorinated. It only seems to be an issue for imports.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#143

Post by bosswipe »

_2d30 wrote: post #105
bosswipe wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe, but it's not going to be wrong by several orders of magnitude like this.

The estimates of people infected by coronavirus in China are orders of magnitude larger than the reported cases. It’s very possible in epidemiology.

Coronavirus in China is a very early and fluid situation. The CDC is able to make estimates based on many years of data and research.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#144

Post by pintxo »

derision wrote: post #122
uhtred wrote: post #82

Who is still eating meat in 2020? Disgusting. No excuse whatsoever for supporting animal cruelty. Shame on you.

I buy all my meat from Butcher Box. All their meat is humanely raised. All their animals are pasture raised and free to roam. Pigs have bedding in open barns, chickens roost in barns and are free to roam. https://www.butcherbox.com/sourcing/ They work with American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) on their chicken standards as well. Not all meat is cruel.

While that's basically my approach as well, there are people who genuinely believe that raising any animal for the purpose of eating them is cruelty.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#145

Post by ska »

ksec wrote: post #121
lhopki01 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in Europe (UK, France) and North America (Canada) I can assure you that American chicken is not just as good. It's not just chicken. All sorts of meats are worse in quality.

>All sorts of meats are worse in quality. Well not really, especially when it comes to Beef. Pork has has a rather diverse selection from both side, but generally I think they are about the same.

Like many things in the US, there is a huge range. I think it's probably true that at the lower end of the cost spectrum in most meats, the US produces more cheaper and lower quality stuff. Particularly the average grocery store inexpensive chicken isn't good, but it's cheap and super plentiful.

That's a long way from "all sort of meats are worse in quality", though.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#146

Post by gadders »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #52
gadders wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just protectionism. It's not like the chicken tastes of bleach. Have you ever eaten food in the US?

The US has 450 deaths from Salmonella every year, the UK has had 1 in the last ten years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmonellosis_in_the_United_St...

I'd be interested to see what the relative rates of campylobacter are. I could only find UK figures, which were 56,729 cases in 2017.

I don't think campylobacter kills, but it's certainly not very nice to get.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#147

Post by ubercow13 »

joecool1029 wrote: post #114
atoav wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is about something else. If you are allowed to clean meat that aggressively it usually means what passes as good enough to be sold has a lower standard. Or the other way around: because we in the EU can't use these methods the whole supply chain and quality control has to be much much stricter to deal with this. We can't just dip the thing in chlorine and assume it is clean now.

1. Chlorine isn't used anymore, it's dishonest to claim that it is just as it's dishonest to claim peracetic acid is dangerous or ends up in the end product. 2. Well aware of the problems and concerns with the supply chain in the US, but not treating and dealing with salmonella outbreaks would have measurably worse health outcomes. These problems don't get fixed overnight. I'm fine with those problems being attacked…

Obviously outbreaks are dealt with here, too.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#148

Post by jshevek »

take_a_breath wrote: post #39
mxscho wrote: post #13

> Perdue on Monday defended [...] the technique to disinfect poultry [...], arguing that U.S. farmers now use a chemical called peracetic acid rather than chlorine: "Peracetic acid ... is a great pathogen reduction treatment. You know what it is? It's vinegar, essentially. To say that's unsafe or not to be used, we don't think there's a basis for that in sound science." I always thought the EU doesn't want this proce…

==It's vinegar, essentially. To say that's unsafe or not to be used, we don't think there's a basis for that in sound science.== Why aren't they just using vinegar if it's the same thing?

They are not chemically the same thing. Presumably they don't use vinegar because vinegar is less effective. However, the implication is that the chemical they use will break down to vinegar by the time it gets to the consumer.

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#149

Post by jessaustin »

stiray wrote: post #84

(Read to the end, it is not what you think it is!) I have stopped eating meat in 1990, due to the discusting way the animals are treated and I couldn't care less. At well over 40s I still look young, no gray hair, medical results are fabolus. BUT!!! I would seriously ask all the vegans/vegetarians to STFU, they are annoying to the point where everyone attacks me when I tell him that I don't eat meat and try to argue.…

This is similar to people who claim to be agnostics rather than atheists. There's nothing wrong with atheism per se, but no reasonable person wants to start any discussion by admitting, "I'm an asshole!"

Re: U.S. wants the EU to accept chemical-washed chicken as part of trade deal

#150

Post by rascul »

joecool1029 wrote: post #102
rascul wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a decent amount of chicken farming and processing in my area (southern Mississippi). I know a few people who work for Southern Hens. The job isn't great, but the benefits are ok and the pay is fairly good for the area (probably doesn't compare well to other parts of the country, though). Better compensated than the majority of unskilled or even semi skilled labor in the area that I've seen. Certainly not chea…

I understand it isn't the case everywhere, but slave labor in the US poultry industry is a thing: https://thinkprogress.org/the-hellish-conditions-facing-work...

Tyson is apparently not a great employer, but I'm not sure I would call that slave labor.
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