Government Claims U.S. Meat That Falls Below U.K. Food Standards Is Off the Menu

U.K. food standards vote goes back to the House of Commons on 4 November

After backsliding on including U.S. meat as part of trade deals in June, the Conservative government has newly pledged not to include food products that do not meet U.K. food standards in trade deals after Brexit, according to the Guardian. International trade secretary Liz Truss and environment minister George Eustice said, “Chlorinated chicken and hormone-injected beef are already banned in the U.K., and we will not negotiate to remove that ban in a trade deal.”

These backslides and pledges are all connected to the new Agriculture Bill, which returns to the House of Commons this Wednesday, 4 November. The government voted against amendments to that bill that would have enshrined pledges like the above in law in October, and its flip-flopping on the issue may leave people unconvinced of the veracity of its latest pledge. The National Farmers’ Union (NFU) said that the pledge, and the making the new Trade and Agriculture Commission a statutory body, was a “landmark moment for the people of the UK, for our countryside and the future of the food on our plates.” The NFU sits on the new commission, which will produce a report for Parliament on the impact of any trade deal signed after Brexit. [Guardian]

And in other news...

• Restaurants across the city react to the new national coronavirus lockdown.
• COVID-19 has exacerbated existing food insecurity, but now food banks are seeing “newly hungry” demographics causing a huge uptick in use.
• How to help fight food insecurity in London.
• Marcus Samuelsson’s offshoot of famed Harlem restaurant Red Rooster has closed in Shoreditch. [Hot Dinners]
• Good tweet: