UK standards must be benchmark for food trading, says NFU chief
THE GOVERNMENT must insist that other countries who want to trade with the UK do so “on our terms” when it comes to food standards, farming leaders are urging.
National Farmers’ Union president Minette Batters will urge the Government to make sure UK farm standards are the benchmark for climate-friendly farming around the world.
At the NFU’s annual conference in Birmingham today, she will reiterate a warning that imported food should not be allowed to undercut the standards UK farmers have to meet on animal welfare, food safety and the environment.
She is warning there is a “gulf ” between the standards British producers have to meet and a lack of equivalent regulation elsewhere in the world.
In her speech, Mrs Batters will say: “For the first time in decades, this country has the opportunity to shape a trade, immigration and agricultural policy which will define our country for decades to come. This year the government must show global leadership, insist that UK farm standards are the benchmark for climatefriendly farming around the world and that whoever wants to trade with us trades on our terms.
“We must not allow those standards to be undermined by imports of goods which would be illegal for our farmers to produce here.”
Farmers say abattoirs in other parts of the world use chlorine or other chemicals to wash carcasses, which British producers cannot do as they have legislation on the way livestock is treated.
There are rules in the UK on lighting, diet, preventing disease spread and checks by vets while in the US and other countries there are no national controls on what Britain considers to be fundamental welfare requirements, Ms Batters warns.