People all over the globe are in shock at the impact Trump tariffs have had on their pension pots, investments, job security and more. These are only some of the consequences of Trumponomics. Worse is yet to come depending on the strength and common sense of Keir Starmer to defend our standards.
Trump has told the UK that if we want tariff relief we need to start buying chlorinated chicken from the US! The chickens are kept in such horrific conditions they have to be washed in chlorine to be safe to eat.
It comes as Trump’s tariffs continue to make shockwaves and some MPs, like Nigel Farage, say they’d let chlorine-washed chicken on our shelves as part of a deal.
Farage and food standards
Not content with the havoc his Brexit project has unleashed on the British people, which has deprived our public services of revenues, especially the NHS, Farage favours the watering down of our food standards in favour of ‘consumer liberty’. He would give the consumer the choice – chlorinated chicken or unchlorinated.
This dangerous product entering our market complies with Trump’s demands and is rationalised by so called ‘freedom of choice’.
A millionaire can easily afford free range organically raised chicken. Not so for the average British citizen. Those forced by poorer economic circumstances may simply not able to choose the healthy option.
Politicians and legislators have a public duty to protect citizens from damaging products. Encouragement for that healthier diet works wonders.
In Finland, legislation was introduced to promote food which was low in salt; foods which were higher in sodium require warning labels. The Finnish government managed to enforce this policy with MacDonalds, who were made to offer a low sodium burger option.
The results were very positive. Sodium intake dropped in Finland by 30%; death rates from heart attacks and strokes decreased by 80% and life expectancy rose by several years.
Finland also focused on promoting foods high in potassium which acts as an antidote to sodium, by relaxing the arteries (Think of foods like oranges, sweet potato, bananas, spinach and beans). Note that too much potassium is not beneficial either. Any readers with concerns about that should consult their doctor.
The consumer is encouraged to be healthy by legislation.
Would the public understand the dangers of chlorinated chicken?
We must consider the question of how chlorinated chicken or other sub-standard raw materials could enter the food chain in a hidden manner as an ingredient for processed foods such as pies or ready-made meals. The devil is in the detail.
Would a warning label be placed on dodgy products under a Reform policy? Would a Reform government even bother to legislate for obligatory labels?
Would a consumer read the small print on any labels even if these were added to packaging?
Polling revealed 80% of Britons are opposed to allowing imports of chlorinated chicken to the UK. The same proportion is also against allowing chicken products that have been farmed using hormones.
Those consumers are absolutely right. Consult the pages of a fantastic book, Brain Food, by Dr Lisa Mosconi, an Italian doctor, who now works and lives in the US on that one.
Products which are contaminated with pesticides and hormones are not only dangerous in themselves, but do not provide us with the same level of brain empowering nutrients.
Long term, this means that our brains decline faster than they would on a healthy Mediterranean diet more plentiful in non-processed foods.
Chicken is classed as a brain food. Farmed fish is not considered to be as beneficial as wild fish. Many vegetarian options serve as brain food and readers will find recommendations on these in her studies.
Politicians like Farage are cooking up a disaster which will serve to overload our stretched NHS. The impact of contaminated food will not necessarily show for several decades, but it will hit services as more people suffer from the effect of cognitive decline and other illnesses.
Respect for the environment lends itself to improving food standards as well as animal welfare.
Trade barriers
Should Britain lower its food and supplies standards, that too can have a negative impact on our trade.
In their article, ‘Hormone-treated beef: Should Britain accept it after Brexit?’ Erik Millstone and Tim Lang issued these words of wisdom:
“The UK government should explicitly acknowledge that any weakening of UK food standards, such as permitting the sale of hormone-reared beef, will result in barriers to UK food companies wishing to export their products to the EU’s Single Market.”
Those pesky European regulations once again, stopping Trump in his tracks. Of course, Trump dislikes regulations elsewhere which would prevent him from ‘making America great’.
While Britain supposedly scored a lower tariff as a country outside the EU, what we gain in reduction we lose in support from our closest neighbours.
As a nation, we have to stand up to Trump by ourselves. As a government, Labour not only faces Trump as an adversary, but encounters a lack of backing from Reform MPs, often Trump supporters elected to UK office. Reform believes in deregulation, not for the benefit of the citizens and consumer, but for itself and the oligarchies which lend it financial support. Time and time again, this group has demonstrated their disrespect for standards on data protection and more. Deregulation would help businesses profit more while throwing our rights out of the window.
Women and LGBTQ+ people would also be threatened under their policies. Freedom of choice goes seems to disappear if that choice entails a woman keeping control over her own body or a human being transitioning to another gender.
Another Trumpian mirror is present here given that both the Trump regime and Reform support the right-wing Heritage Foundation, whose policies roll back women’s rights.
The NHS universal model of free treatment at the point of use would also be under threat, not ideal where consumers live in a country which fails to enforce adequate food safety standards.
Britain once led in the EU in areas such as food safety via our MEPs, Seb Dance’s new legislation on meat products being a notable example. We were the rule makers and that was a good thing.
Starmer has a duty of care to the public as PM. Reform, who have labelled the PM ‘Keir Harmer’, ‘Keir Starmer – Benefits Harmer?’ – would willingly release a cocktail of disasters on supermarket shelves. Starmer should aim for a new nickname, ‘Steady Starmer’ for want of a better suggestion. Steady in that he creates a fortified wall of resistance to watering down the nation’s culinary health. Should he require reinforcements on this, no doubt Seb Dance, deputy major of London, is only a phone call away for advice.
You can sign the 38 degrees petition to ask Keir Starmer to stand firm against Trump on the food score here.
Voters who are fed up of Labour’s neo-austerity measures should carefully consider where their protest votes may land.
A ‘Stick it to Starmer’ vote may result in a scenario where consumers literally bite off more than they can chew on the chemical front should Trump supporters take control of our political system.
