White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

Donald Trump is demanding American chlorinated chicken be sold in British supermarkets.

The White House is pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards in order to revive a transatlantic tech partnership that drastically collapsed on Tuesday.

Jamieson Greer, the US trade envoy, wants Britain to accept hormone-treated chicken and beef, a term he was not able to achieve when the wider US-UK trade deal was first signed in May.

“He is seeking to use the tech partnership as leverage on trade deal concessions he still wants but that didn’t get the first round,” a source close to the negotiations told The Telegraph.

The US pulled the tech prosperity agreement over complaints Britain’s Online Safety Act would police American AI companies. Washington is using this complaint in order to secure fresh compromises in its trade deal with London, The Telegraph understands.

Insiders say the tech agreement collapsed in part because of the absence of an ambassador to Washington, a post which has remained vacant since Lord Mandelson was fired in September over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

  • Rose@slrpnk.net
    6·
    2 hours ago

    British cuisine is terrible enough as is, please don’t make it even worse.

    [/dated and factually completely inaccurate humour]

  • then_three_more@lemmy.world
    8·
    6 hours ago

    Our current government seems so politically inept that they might agree to this and then wonder why they start polling behind the Official Monster Raving Looney Party. Then they’ll leave it 12 months for the political damage to fester then roll back on it.

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
      25·
      8 hours ago

      what’s funny is we’re stopping it’s use. very few processors here use chlorine as part of the chilling process. Even then, it’s extremely dilute. We now mostly use a diluted peracetic acid (It’s vinegar- acetic acid- and hydrogen peroxide.)

      edit to clarify: When butchering animals, you want to get the temperature down as quickly as possible after you kill the animal. This keeps the bacteria lower, and reduces the chance of spoilage while increasing it’s life. To do that, chicken are chilled in a cold water bath, to which they add the acid (or chlorine.) to reduce it as much as possible, which expends it’s shelf life tremendously.

      The EU has questions about Chlorine’s safety; but more importantly… they view the use of additives as a way to mask hygiene problems. It’s a concern that the poultry is not up to par, and the wash is there to hide the fact or make up for it.

      • then_three_more@lemmy.world
        11·
        5 hours ago

        It’s a concern that the poultry is not up to par, and the wash is there to hide the fact or make up for it.

        This is the root of the objection I think most of the British public have and why it’s become media shorthand for saying that we’d have to accept what the US laughably calls food standards.

        There was a lot of concern about when we got that little deal because there was stuff about us buying more of US beef, never mind that it turned out that it was stuff that was already legal over here because it was the premium stuff.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          2 hours ago

          said another way… they think our food cleanliness is somewhere between “dirty as fuck” and “You eat that?!”

  • SaltSong@startrek.websiteEnglish
    41·
    10 hours ago

    Does anyone in Washington understand that a “deal” generally includes giving the other guy something they want, not just demanding things that you want?

    • n0respect@lemmy.world
      5·
      5 hours ago

      No, he think that if you have power in a relationship, you get to dictate the terms of it. Without realizing the other party can just step away.

      • Fedizen@lemmy.world
        2·
        2 hours ago

        This explains why trump is so prominent in the epstein files; kids can’t just step away.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      27·
      10 hours ago

      The USA has always handled deals more by bullying than by reciprocation, but Trump has made this worse because at least you’d get a stable arrangement out of it in the past. It’s clear to other countries now that if you give him anything he’ll just rip up the deal next week and demand more.

      • Dragomus@lemmy.world
        2·
        3 hours ago

        Trump always considered a “deal” to have a winner and a loser… an outcome where both parties are satisfied is not a proper deal in his mindset and he’ll look for excuses to be able to shout he’s been ripped off.

      • TheFogan@programming.devEnglish
        11·
        10 hours ago

        followed by him going on television asking who the hell made that deal it’s such a terrible deal only a sucker would have ever signed it… with his own damn signature.

      • SaltSong@startrek.websiteEnglish
        91·
        9 hours ago

        True enough. Used to be, we were the only game in town, and we knew it.

        Our smarter presidents tried to make sure we remained the best option, or at least a good option. Trump, as you have noted, makes is the worst option.

    • foodandart@lemmy.zip
      17·
      10 hours ago

      This is why Trump is such a shit businessman and failed at EVERY thing he’s done. The ONLY reason he became the President is because someone else put him on TV.

      Dude doesn’t have a clue how to successfully make a deal.

    • masterofn001@lemmy.ca
      2·
      9 hours ago

      “You’re not holding any cards.”

      The dealer deals the deal.

      And the (white) house (ballroom) always wins.

  • Nate Cox@programming.devEnglish
    16·
    10 hours ago

    I recently switched to a plant-based, whole food diet, and seeing the phrase “chlorinated chicken” makes me feel so very validated about this choice.

      • Nate Cox@programming.devEnglish
        5·
        7 hours ago

        I took a class from a local organization on it and it really provided the motivation and support I needed to make the switch. My wife and I switched together and we both feel a lot better and our blood work showed radical improvement over just a couple of weeks. Been at it for several months now and I think it’s a life change for us now.

        If you don’t have a class in your area, the book “How Not to Die” by Michael Greger is the next best thing.

        Also, you do you, but I advise staying away from vegan communities. They can attract certain kind of person that does not provide a positive experience, at least for me. Also fun fact: you can be vegan and eat like absolute shit; Oreos and McDonalds French fries are both vegan. Plant based, whole food is stricter in terms of providing actual nutrition.