March 11, 2020

French farmers press government to stop UK from easing food safety rules

Farmers do not want post-Brexit United Kingdom to relax its food safety rules because there is the possibility of more low-cost chicken entering France from the US, reported Reuters.

French farmers are concerned over the possibility of US chlorine treated chicken entering the UK market, which in turn could be pushed to France.

The UK government said it will not ease current food safety and environmental standards, but it's under pressure from the United States to do so in order to get a trade deal.

The European Union requires poultry to be washed with water, which means farmers in the EU need to maintain more expensive, stricter standards.

France already imports low cost poultry from Brazil and Thailand, which has reduced chicken prices in the country.

The French poultry industry has demanded its government for a Britain-EU regulatory alignment, urge the UK not to impose tariffs on EU chicken and to label the country of origin on all chicken sold in France. 

Anne Richard, head of Anvol, a French poultry industry body said 100,000 people work in the poultry industry worth 6.8 billion EUR (~US$7.7 billion; 1 EUR = US$1.13). While that is a far cry from France's 2.5 trillion EUR (~US$2.8 trillion) economy and 67 million population, farmers in the country have strong political influence.

Janusz Wojciechowski, European Agriculture commissioner said countries that export to the single market in the EU must follow the same demands on standards.

-      Reuters