EU agriculture ministers vote to keep import ban on chlorinated chicken

The EU proposal to allow imports of chlorine-washed chicken has been dropped by European governments

Euronews says EU agriculture ministers rejected the proposal and the French Agriculture Minister Michel Barnier said it had nothing to do with preventing competition. But there had been strong resistance to the lifting of the 10-year ban on chlorinated chicken imports.

“No, it isn’t protectionism,” he said. “The Americans and the Chinese and others will just have to get used to Europeans saying that not only is our system better, but it is different and we value that difference.”

US processors routinely treat chicken with chlorinated water to remove any bacteria, such as salmonella. But this practice is banned in the EU and, consequently, US imports have been banned for the last 10 years. The EU instead opts for reducing on-farm contamination.