When discussing future UK trade deals, it’s not long before someone raises the issue of chlorine-washed chicken.
We eat salad washed in chlorine, and our drinking water is chlorine-treated, so why are we averse to chlorine-washed chicken?
The practice of washing chicken carcasses in a chlorine solution has been banned in the UK and EU since 1997, but it’s still permitted in the US. Here we explain the difference between our salad being washed in chlorine and our chicken being treated the same way.
The purpose of chlorine-washing chicken at the end of the production line is to kill bacteria such as campylobacter, salmonella and E coli, which can cause food poisoning.
Chicken houses must also be cleaned thoroughly and the litter replaced between flocks.
Chicken houses don’t have to be cleaned between flocks, and might only be cleaned and litter replaced once or twice a year.
US chicken doesn’t contain lower levels of bacteria than UK chicken.
Research by the US consumer organisation Consumer Reports in 2014 showed that 97% of 300 chicken breasts tested contained harmful bacteria, including campylobacter, salmonella, E coli and enterococcus.
Our concerns about chlorine-washed chicken are less around the actual use of chlorine, but more that these washes are used to clean up poor welfare and hygiene practices throughout the system.
Proponents of chlorine-washed chicken argue that it should be up to individuals to choose whether they want to eat it or not.
Even if current laws are changed so that chlorine-washed chicken has to be labelled, this won’t capture food in the catering sector.
Most major supermarkets have said they won’t stock chlorine-washed chicken, so this chicken is likely to end up in restaurants, takeaways, school dinners and hospital meals, where food isn’t labelled.