Brexit: UK is set to import cruelly produced food that could damage your health – Helen Martin

It does seem clear that the UK government is determined to import, and not ban, sub-standard food which isn’t just cruel to animals but can also cause illness and damage to humans.

After Jeremy Corbyn last year highlighted concerns about food standards in a post-Brexit trade deal with the US, Boris Johnson branded the then Labour leader a 'gigantic chlorinated chicken' and the Conservative Party produced this campaign image (Picture: Conservative Party/PA Wire)

Earlier this month, it voted against a call to enshrine food safety in UK law – presumably because potential WTO deals include US, Australia, Canada and other countries.

Many of the drugs, chemicals, and cruel treatment that exists in the farming of pigs, chickens, cattle and even some fruit and veg, are banned by the EU, and UK farmers.

One example is, of course, chlorinated chicken which is inadequately washed with chlorine because of the dirt and disease it acquires with its awful conditions. Salmonella is a major example of what doesn’t get cleared off in the US, where it kills 450 people a year and has 23,000 admitted to hospital.

In both the US and Australia, antibiotics and hormones are routinely bunged into cattle who are kept in limited inside space. That can also increase human antibiotic resistance.

Ractopamine is a drug for pigs in the US and Mexico. It makes them sick and immobile and raises human heart rates. Some chickens in the US who produce eggs are kept in battery cages not much bigger than a shoebox until they die.

These are banned by the EU and obviously not free-range, which is more popular here, though not as “free” as we may think.

All of these products are cheaper. Not what I would call a “bargain”, and in future I may be asking restaurants and takeaways where the ingredients are from.

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