Brexiter Liam Fox Really Wants to Eat Chlorinated Chicken

Brexiter Liam Fox really wants to eat chlorinated chicken

U.K. international trade secretary and ardent Brexit supporter Liam Fox has claimed that “there’s been no argument about food safety on chlorine-washed chicken — it’s been an argument about animal welfare,” at an Institute for Government event. The reality is that chlorinated chicken — a lightning rod for a much broader and complex conversation about Brexit’s consequences for food standards in the U.K. — is a food standards issue, particularly for Michael Gove, who gave a memorably hard no to the meat two years ago. The practice goes hand in hand with the lack of poultry welfare regulation in the U.S.: functioning as a catch-all that could hide a multitude of sins further up the production chain. Naturally, not all U.S. poultry farms will have terrible practices, and there’s the simple fact that ‘chlorinated chicken’ just sounds horrible, even if it were the apex predator of washing chickens. Unfortunately for Fox — whose poultry desperation is inextricably linked to a desire to trade with Donald Trump — his assertion that there is “no argument” is just another Brexit-adjacent lie. [Independent]

And in other news...

• Soho is getting two new fried chicken shops, and they’re both making some pretty big statements.
• London chefs are dominating Great British Menu, just like last year’s series.
• Struggling football club Bolton Wanderers has set up a food bank for non-playing staff after the club went into administration over unpaid tax. [Sky News]
• Food brands’ Twitter thirst just can’t be slaked, no matter what dumb things they do. [Eater]
• Reservation platform Resy is now owned by American Express. Points! Points! [Eater]
• A U.K. van driver received a police fine because ... Their cabin was so full of food waste that they couldn’t operate the pedals properly. Law! Law! [The Takeout]
• McDonald’s will swap out the carrot in its happy meals for cucumber because summer. [Chronicle Live]
• Choco Leibniz heiress Verena Bahlsen has rowed back on her suggestion that using forced labour under Nazi rule was tantamount to ... “to doing nothing wrong.” [BBC News]
• Good tweet: