American chicken is incompatible with European farming

Chicken has long been a sticking point in Transatlantic trade negotiations. For two decades Europe has banned poultry meat from the US on psytosanitary grounds – American chicken is treated with a mild chlorinated spray to reduce bacteria on its surface. Europe has historically argued that food safety should be a ‘farm to fork’ endeavour, and that simply minimising bacterial load by treating chicken at the slaughterhouse was not acceptable. That position is under threat here in the UK.