Channel 4 exposé questions the safety of American chicken

An undercover investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches programme last month revealed dangerous practices at a US chicken factory and raised fears of low standard, possibly contaminated meat being part of a future US/UK trade deal.

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US trade envoys have already made it clear that they want the UK to accept meat cleaned with chlorine washes and treated with antibiotics and feed additives such as ractopamine. The US Ambassador to the UK, Woody Johnson, has tried to dismiss UK consumer fears as a ‘smear campaign’ and describes using chlorine washes as a “public safety no-brainer” and insists thy are the most effective and economical way of dealing with “potentially lethal” bacteria.

The Channel 4 exposé found:

* Piles of chicken left on conveyor belts for long periods of time, at the risk of cross contamination.

* Boxes of chicken stacked on top of each other – which could also cause cross-contamination.

* Workers touching raw chicken with bare hands – while one cleared drains with gloved hands, merely washing the gloves before going back to touching raw chicken.

* Drains blocked with chicken – while pieces of and innards lay on the floor and water leaked from machinery.

* Flooded and broken floors where “bacteria could breed”, an EU meat safety expert warned.

* A worker having three fingers amputated, after being asked to operate a machine they had not been trained to use.

US farmers use chlorine washes as an ‘end of pipe’ solution to make meat fit for human consumption. The practice is banned in the UK under EU law because of safety concerns.

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