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According to Tim Smith, Chair of the U.K. Trade and Agriculture Commission, "there is no prospect of ‘chlorinated chicken’ or any of those other products entering the U.K. market".  Quoted in the August 3rd edition of the USAPEEC MondayLine, Smith is persisting with established protectionist rhetoric based on chlorine immersion or spraying in plants as an antibacterial measure.  Currently only five percent of U.S. chicken is treated with chlorine.  Other antibacterials including peracetic acid are used to reduce pathogen counts and as a food safety measure.

Misleading and emotional opposition to

U.S. chicken imports to U.K.

For the information of Mr. Smith the incidence rate of campylobacteriosis in the U.K., predominantly acquired from processed poultry, was 80 per 100,000 population over the period 1990 to 1999. The comparable incidence rate with U.S. chicken treated with antibacterial rinses is 20 per 100,000 population.

U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Robert Lighthizer has expressed an opinion that a U.K. ban on U.S. chicken would be a "deal breaker" with respect to a bilateral trade agreement.