Liam Fox, the trade secretary, has accused the media of being obsessed with safety concerns about chlorine-washed chicken being sold in Britain as part of a potential trade deal with the US after Brexit.

The controversy overshadowed the first day of Fox’s trip to Washington, amid worries that a trade deal with America could lead to imports of food with lower safety standards.

Campaign groups, the poultry industry and opposition politicians called on Fox to come clean about whether the UK is prepared to lift its ban on chlorine-washed chicken in order to accommodate US poultry farmers who want to sell their meat in Britain.

But Fox said the issue was a mere detail in lengthy potential trade negotiations, and dismissed a question about whether he would personally eat a chlorine-washed chicken himself.

“In a debate which should be about how we make our contribution to global liberalisation and the increased prosperity of both the UK, the US and our trading partners, the complexities of those – the continuity agreements, the short-term gains that we may make, the opportunities we have and our ability to work jointly towards both a free-trade agreement and WTO [World Trade Organisation] liberalisation – the British media are obsessed with chlorine-washed chickens, a detail of the very end-stage of one sector of a potential free trade agreement. I say no more than that,” he said.

Earlier, a source close to Fox had told the Telegraph he believed that “Americans have been eating it perfectly safely for years” and that any meaningful trade deal with the US would have to include agriculture.

No 10 also repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether it could lift the ban on chlorine-washed chicken or guarantee there would be no reduction in food standards after Brexit.

Theresa May’s official spokesman said maintaining safety and public confidence in food was of the highest priority, but it was too early to get into the specifics and “hypotheticals” of any deal.

“Any future trade deal must work for UK farmers, businesses and consumers,” he added.

The American farming industry is expected to push for agriculture to be included in any food deal, potentially opening the door for chlorine-washed chicken, hormone-fed beef and GM crops to be imported into the UK for the first time.



Washing poultry in chlorine is banned in the EU, with guidance suggesting the practice could lead to worsening of food standards. This is because abattoirs could rely on it as a decontaminant and the chemical washes could be used by unscrupulous producers to make meat appear fresher.

However, such a move would be resisted by British producers who would be worried about being undercut by US chicken farmers using lower standards and cheaper methods. If they switched to US methods themselves, it could be more difficult to sell their produce into the EU.

The British Poultry Council, the industry body, said it “rejects the notion of importing chlorine-washed chickens as part of a makeweight in trade negotiations with the US”.

It added: “The UK poultry meat industry stands committed to feeding the nation with nutritious food and any compromise on standards will not be tolerated. A secure post-Brexit deal must be about Britain’s future food security and safety. This is a matter of our reputation on the global stage.”

Barry Gardiner, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, said Fox’s comments show you should “never trust a Fox in your hen coop”.

Liam Fox shows he is set to abandon British poultry farmers in favour of cheap US imports that do not meet our standards Barry Gardiner, shadow trade secretary

“By arguing the case for chlorine-washed chicken, Liam Fox shows he is ready to abandon British poultry farmers in favour of cheap US imports that do not meet our sanitary or animal welfare standards,” he said.

“The US is our biggest trading partner outside of the EU and accounts for 17% of British exports. We want to see that figure grow and every effort must be made to support British exporters and reduce unnecessary barriers to trade, but never at the expense of the interests of British consumers and producers.”

Open Britain, the campaign group fighting against a hard Brexit, challenged the trade secretary to eat a chlorine-washed chicken himself, while Tim Farron, the former Lib Dem leader, accused Fox of “running into the trade negotiations like a headless chicken”.

“Parliament will not back a reduction to food standards as part of the repeal bill. This is a betrayal of British poultry farmers who currently work to the highest standards in the world. Liam Fox’s dangerous grovelling to the US is only going to see his chickens come home to roost,” he said.

However, some free marketeers believe the time has come to relax the ban on chlorine-washed chicken. The Adam Smith Institute, a rightwing thinktank, argued in a report on Monday that access to the US poultry market was likely to be a key sticking point in thrashing out an agreement with the US.

The thinktank said the UK should be prepared to adapt its standards, pointing to an assessment by the European Food Safety Authority that the chemical rinses, including chlorine dioxide, were safe to eat.

“Agreeing to US poultry imports would help to secure a quick US trade deal, and bring down costs for British households,” the report says. “European opposition to US agricultural exports has held up trade talks for years. By scrapping the ban on chlorinated chicken imports, the government will send a signal to potential trading partners across the globe that the UK remains an open-facing and free trading nation.”

However, Michael Gove, the environment secretary and leading Brexit supporter, gave a speech last week insisting that food safety standards must not be lowered as the UK leaves the EU.

Gove said on Friday that the UK should not take part in a “race to the bottom” to win new trading relationships. “Of course it’s important we explore new trading opportunities, with the United States and other nations across the world, but it must not be, and the cabinet is agreed on this, at the risk of dropping any environmental standards whatsoever,” he said.



Meanwhile, a House of Lords committee has warned that the greatest threat to farm animal welfare standards after Brexit would come from UK farmers competing against cheap imported food from countries with lower standards than the UK.



In a new report, the subcommittee on energy and the environment, said the government’s wish for the UK to become a global leader in free trade is “not necessarily compatible with its desire to maintain high animal welfare standards”.



Lord Teverson, the subcommittee chairman, said that the inquiry heard evidence of “undeniable concern that opening up the UK market to free global trade poses a number of issues”.



“As we said in our last report, Brexit: agriculture, the government may find it hard to reconcile its free trade ambitions with its commendable desire for preserving high farm animal welfare standards,” he said.



“We heard overwhelming support for farm animal welfare standards to be maintained or improved. To help achieve that, we urge the government to secure the inclusion of high farm animal welfare standards in any free trade agreements it negotiates after Brexit.”