Internal political struggles within the EU are delaying agreement over lifting the de facto ban on US poultry meat imports.
Go deeper with GlobalData
There has been opposition from European Commission health officials, who have attached conditions to scrapping rules preventing chlorine treatment of poultry, common in the US, and the main barrier preventing US exporters selling into Europe.
In particular, Commission health officials want to restrict permitted chlorine treatment to whole poultry carcasses, not parts and cuts. They want treated carcasses then rinsed with drinking water and them to carry a label ‘treated with antimicrobial substances’ or ‘decontaminated by chemicals’.
Commission sources told just-food that these conditions upset the US government.
However, even this partial liberalisation was opposed by the EU’s standing committee on food chain and animal health of veterinary experts, and so the proposal must be referred to the EU Council of Ministers by the Commission – a move yet to happen.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData“It may be, days, weeks, months or even a year”, said one Brussels health official.
