James O’Brien enlightens us on what adopting or allowing American food standards might mean. Yum 
Sensationalism aside does anyone have links to the equivalent EU legislation?
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Is it perhaps the EFSA…???
Don’t know what the fuss is about, the food will be cheaper so that’s the main thing.
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British farmers have no objection to competing on an equal playing field.
If you care about animal welfare and the ability of Britain to be self sufficient to the best degree, you will understand that lowering standards for imported food does no one any favours.
It is bad news.
I was thinking - does anyone have the specific figures for, say, cherries as this has been one of the examples used.
Cherry fruit fly is a problem for all cherry growers and affected fruit can be hard to spot as they only show signs when the maggot is nearly fully grown so I suspect that the equivalent allowances in the EU are not “zero”, but I don’t have time to wade through the legislation to find out.
Indeed - notwithstanding JRM getting his cuts of meat mixed up (American “sirloin” is a different cut to English “sirloin”, from a cheaper part of the animal) I think that beef cattle farmers are right to be worried about their ability to compete with US imports. It is also clear from interviews that JRM has done in the past that he does not give a rat’s arse about the UK having a viable farming industry.
In fact I’d go further - it isn’t so much that he does not care (he doesn’t) but I have been left with the impression that he does not even start to comprehend that we need a farming industry.
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I usually make my own curry. But I never buy supermarket curries in the UK without checking where the chicken is sourced. If it’s Thailand I won’t touch it. Full of antibiotics. Also, surely if chicken can be flown thousands of miles more cheaply than English chicken the animal welfare must be awful.
The co-op have very good standards for their food so my daughter shops there, although a bit more expensive.
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In these days of the power of the people Tim is correct, lower prices are what matter to the majority. The ability to import cheap world sourced food and cheap goods from China and the Far East will be seen as a huge advantage of being able to take back control. The health, safety and legal protections that the population has had will go by the board.
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“The health, safety and legal protections that the population has had will go by the board.”
And the precise labelling of what has been done to the food imported from the US will be prohibited by the terms of any new trade deal. That includes things like artificial colours, flavour enhancers, GM ingredients, and hormones fed to cattle to make them put on weight more quickly. This last one has been done since the sixties and may be one of the reasons Americans are so fat. “You are what you eat.”
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You can expect more color-ful food. Annatto and its extracts are now widely used in an artisanal or industrial scale as a coloring agent in many processed food products, such as cheeses, dairy spreads, butter and margarine, custards, cakes and other baked goods, potatoes, snack foods, breakfast cereals, smoked fish, sausages, and more. In these uses, annatto is a natural alternative to synthetic food coloring compounds, but it has been linked to rare cases of food-related allergies.[3] Annatto is of particular commercial value in the United States because the Food and Drug Administration considers colorants derived from it to be “exempt of certification”.
Because (?) of business effects( read: politics) Annatto is exempt of certification. I believe it is not the only exemption …
Are you American Peter? It’s just that I noticed that you have spelt “colour” in the American way without the “u”. I notice, however, that when I type “colour” the spell checker on the forum tells me I have spelt it incorrectly so it’s obviously an American spell checker. It doesn’t like “spelt” either!!! Maybe I should be using “spelled”?! 
I’ve noticed that most cheddar cheese in France is bright orange rather than the very pale stuff that is produced in the UK. I believe that they use annatto to mimic the American version of cheddar although I’m not really sure why this is preferred here in France.
I heard about this a short while ago. If, the government allows this, they have sold the nations health down the river.
I know without even listening to it, some about all the “enhancements” they allow and put into all manner of their produce. From grains to meat.
One telling line from the page : "And remember, this will be the cheap stuff, they won’t be buying this. They won’t be buying their cherries at the bottom end of the market, you will.
Yes…they will chuck the bad end of the apples …the low part of the barrel etc…because it will be allowed within the parameters.
So not only the hormones, Monsanto 's GMO, glyphosates, to put up with…but those of them at the bottom end of the quality chain…
I’d rather pay for quality and eat less…the youngsters and young families for the majority, don’t give a rats, because they then have more money for materialistic lifestyles.
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Yes, that too. 
Language I use is a mix of pretty much ’ everything’ , I speak 4 languages (ranging from fluently to badly).
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I spent a little time trying to locate the actual regulation…much of the current discussion seems to be taken up with edible insects as novel proteins both for human consumption and as feed for livestock…
I came across an Eu guideline in a French paper with reference to codex alimentarius…I’ve been on the codex alimentarius website but can’t find it so far…
A bit worrying.
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My OH and I decided a few weeks ago, to give the standard supermarket meat & poultry a miss; and buy from a local supply butcher. Yes the produce is definitely more expensive, but the difference in taste is amazing.
We now only buy meat and poultry from them, and just eat less meals with meat.
If the difference is that much now, who knows what it will be like when standards fall !!
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That is my experience too. in Texas, after driving for hours in the stench from feeding-lots in West Texas we decided to only buy and eat grass fed meat from a local farms. Grass fed meat needs less heat and has a delicious smell when preparing. Not to mention the taste, what a difference. As for chicken, same thing. Instead of buying fat things that could hardly walk we found locally normally bred and butchered chicken. I would never buy US meat over here in Europe.
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Many moons ago I was researching Monsanto and glysophate and organophosphates and the patent on a pig and GMOs and growth hormones…the photos and videos of those oversized animals were dreadful…and yep hardly able to walk or live a natural life at all…x 
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Perhaps now that Bayer,a German company, are the new owners of Monsanto things may change.
Don’t bet on it. Multinationals are all the same. Money trumps ethics every time.
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It was Timothy Cole who says he does not know what all the fuss is about, food will be cheaper.
For how long, when the americans have swamped tge market they will put up the price.