Our beef with the US

SIR – There has already been a furious reaction from the National Farmers’ Union to Robert Wood Johnson’s article (Comment, March 2) about US farming practices. It is to be expected, as the NFU exists to promote the interests of its members at the expense of us consumers.

The fact is that millions of people travel to the US every year and enjoy hormone-treated beef and chlorine-washed chicken without coming to any harm and, generally, enjoying the quality of the food on offer. I greatly look forward to my annual treat of US corn-fed prime rib, which is more tender and tasty than UK beef. As a former beef farmer, I can bore for hours on why that is.

For those whose opposition is on animal welfare grounds, the solution is labelling. If you don’t want hormone-treated beef, chlorine-washed chicken or GM corn, don’t eat it; but, for goodness sake, don’t ban it. Richard Duncan

Guildford, Surrey

SIR – The US Ambassador clearly has no sense of geography. In the UK our rural environment is comparatively limited and precious. Our farming methods suit this scale and, when correctly applied, produce quality with environmental responsibility and meat with the emphasis on the health of both animals and consumer.

If the US wants to flood UK supermarkets with mass-produced hormone-injected beef, chlorine-washed chicken and other artificial wonders, fine: let the market decide what it wants to buy and eat.

Nevertheless, we must be allowed to farm in ways that are suited to our landscapes, which take care of the environment, and which we know are best for our animals and consumers without lectures from the ambassador. Anne Booth

Shaftesbury, Dorset

SIR – I am alarmed that UK chicken carcasses are not washed in chlorine, which kills salmonella (and listeria). Though demonised by Greens, chlorine has saved billions of lives by enabling safe water for drinking. Revd Philip Foster

Hemingford Abbots, Cambridgeshire