Government reportedly ready to give green light to chlorinated chicken

The government is reportedly ready to scrap its pledge to block the import of chlorinated chicken and hormone-fed beef from the US.

As part of trade negotiations with the US a proposal has been put forward that would allow foods produced using techniques banned in Britain to be imported, but subject them to higher tariffs, The Telegraph reports.

It is suggested that the ‘dual tariff' approach would encourage producers to adopt British welfare standards by subjecting complying meats to lower tariffs.

Washing chicken in chlorine to ban bacteria is banned across the European Union, due to concerns that such measures could be used to compensate for poor hygiene and welfare standards at other stages of production.

Many have spoken out against the importing of chlorinated chicken. Chef Tommy Banks tweeted: "Ethically and environmentally terrible! Meat like this should not exist in the world and certainly should not be Imported into our country. I really hope it will be labelled appropriately and through education people will not buy it."

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