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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

#41

Post by edmundsauto »

donatj wrote: post #25
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…

I don't understand the logic. If the end result is unequivocally good, why do the steps along the way matter beyond the "eww" factor?

Poor (cheap) practices earlier in the process (aka life of the chicken) could cause lower quality meat, fewer nutrients, more likelihood for nasty stuff. Washing the germs away doesn't necessarily wash away the effect of that.

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

#42

Post by joecool1029 »

So, I fail to see the issue with the chemical currently used. Chlorine had obvious negative health issues, but peracetic acid and hydrogen peroxide both decay quickly when exposed to air: http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/m...

I understand the concerns about using such processes over having a clean processing facility but I don't trust the cheap labor (prisoners, migrant farmers, etc) the US uses to not cause an outbreak. For those doubting this logic please look at the shit lettuce outbreaks we have every 2-3 months.

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

#43

Post by rainwolf »

donatj wrote: post #25
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…

I don't understand the logic. If the end result is unequivocally good, why do the steps along the way matter beyond the "eww" factor?

because in Europe, livestock welfare matters more and more

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

#44

Post by mvdwoord »

The Netherlands has a treaty (against the outcome of the referendum) with the Ukraine which allows for effectively undermining our animal welfare policies.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2016/05/ukraine-poultry-giant-...

If the EU allows this as well (or finds some weird amended way to do the same while proclaiming something else) what's next?

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

#45

Post by C14L »

ArchReaper wrote: post #7

Off topic: Does anyone know how they are blocking scrolling when scripts are disabled and overflow:hidden is taken off body? Infuriating

No idea, but on Firefox just click "reader view" and it gives you the text nicely formated.

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

#48

Post by mech1234 »

JakeTheAndroid wrote: post #26
tschellenbach wrote: post #9

What's the health impact of the chemical-washed chickens?

My understanding is the chemical wash isn't the inherent issue here. It's the fact that they need to be chemically washed in the first place. Due to factory farming, chickens live in piles of their own poop, and with that comes tons of other unhealthy side effects. To combat that, in the US we simply give them a chemical bath. The issue at hand is that the EU doesn't want low quality chicken entering the market becau…

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

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

#49

Post by jldugger »

gadders wrote: post #36
brummm wrote: post #2

I really hope the EU will not allow this kind of US meat into the EU market...

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

I'm not sure we can trust US resident's opinions on taste as long as Hershey's chocolate still exists.

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

#50

Post by nerform »

moksly wrote: post #12
brummm wrote: post #2

I really hope the EU will not allow this kind of US meat into the EU market...

If they do, I hope they make sure that it has to be labelled on the food. They do that with a lot of things, and then it’s really easy not to buy it.

Food chains/restaurants won't have this labels in the menus. And they will serve you the cheaper product.
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