LONDON — In this post-
Brexit, mid-pandemic moment in the
United Kingdom, it is hard to find a topic that unites the nation. But US
chickens have done it.
اضافة اعلان
Everybody hates them.
The odd thing is that US chicken is not sold anywhere in
Britain, and if people here get their way, it never will be.
What precisely have US chickens done to so thoroughly appall
the British?
The short answer is that some US chicken carcasses are
washed in chlorine to eliminate potentially harmful pathogens. Americans for
years have been devouring these birds without any fuss, but in Britain, US
chickens have been denounced by editorialists, academics, politicians, farmers
and a wide variety of activists.
US poultry has long been derided in the United Kingdom but
did not become an object of public vitriol until it became clear the two
countries would sign a new free-trade agreement once Britain left the European
Union. Arguably the largest anticipated sticking point in any such deal centers
on US food standards, which are widely regarded here as subpar and tolerant of
filth and shabby conditions in the quest for profits.
It is all a big smear, says the
US poultry industry, and an
excuse to keep a British industry from competing with far larger US rivals. But
dig a little, and it is quickly clear that chlorine chicken phobia is about
more than edible birds. Somehow, the US' handling of chicken has become a
symbol of British fears that, without the proper guardrails, a trade deal with
the United States will change Britain for the worse.
“This is a classic example of how belief has overtaken
evidence and become embedded in a complex sociopolitical discourse which is
almost certainly motivated by something very different from that actual issue,”
said Ian Boyd, a professor of biology at the University of St. Andrews.
“Chlorine-washed chicken is almost certainly a proxy for much deeper issues
concerning trust.”
The specifics of this mistrust are hard to pin down. Most
involve a free-floating sense that the United States is a heedless juggernaut
and if trade between the two countries is unfettered, there is no telling what
Americans will peddle and ruin.
The timing for any US-British trade deal is unknown. Several
trade experts said that negotiations could take years, largely because the deal
does not seem to be a high priority in the United States.
Read more business
.jpg)
.jpg)
