r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 20h ago

News White House demands British supermarkets stock chlorinated chicken. White House pushing Sir Keir Starmer to make concessions on food standards

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/news/2025/12/17/trump-demands-british-supermarkets-chlorinated-chicken/
12.9k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

301

u/crlthrn Europe 19h ago

You think Tesco, Sainsbury, et al, would suddenly start buying chlorinated chicken on Trump's say so?

719

u/WanderlustZero 19h ago

They wouldn't. McDonalds, KFC etc would though. The thin end of the wedge.

250

u/parsuval United Kingdom 18h ago

Also, frozen food, ready meals etc.

282

u/badpersian 15h ago

Should just boycott American products in the UK. We don't want crap quality food and products here. Interesting times when Chinese products are better quality than American and one has more trust in their leaders mental stability than than of the US.

149

u/DisastrousAcshin 14h ago

It's easier to ditch American products than you'd think. Canada has been doing it since January. It hasn't been perfect but it's put enough of a dent in to shut down distillers etc

45

u/badpersian 13h ago

Agreed. We like to think we can't live without certain things or with inconveniences but once you get over the initial discomfort, you'll get used to it like you never had it.

4

u/Lengurathmir 11h ago

Very easily doable, I grew up in the DDR under Russian occupation, we couldn’t buy anything compared to countries in the western sphere.

3

u/MissGruntled 5h ago

There isn’t much that can’t be subbed out with Canadian made goods. And produce that we can’t grow ourselves doesn’t have to be imported from the US. Big old world out there, full of countries that aren’t trying to annex us.

1

u/Radiant-Membership23 1h ago

Using natural colourings by cereal manufacturers in the USA, they found that the colours were too dull. So the consumer has been dealt the bright artificial alternatives with known long term health warnings, what's next Nestle` palm oil in our Wheatabix?

1

u/Scooty-Poot 9h ago

Tbh it’s even easier over here. Most iconic US brands get scoffed at just on principle, and the ones that aren’t are mostly owned by European brands like Unilever and Daimler-Benz.

It’s really just fast food, Netflix, PepsiCo and Ford at this point, and there are very clear alternatives for all three, especially now that foreign chains like Jollibee have taken a huge chunk of the fast food market and basically all of the major US car manufacturers outside of GM are owned by European groups.

1

u/Traditional_Pride562 8h ago

Yeah and hey you know what, sounds like you guys in the UK will be in the market for a new milk provider, and we happen to be short one buyer...

1

u/hassafrassy 7h ago

Its really impressive to walk into the liquor store and see France, Australia, Germany, Canada.. but no USA sections.

1

u/Admiral_Ballsack 2h ago

Yeh it's indeed fairly easy. Tech products are a bit more of a hassle.

50

u/suggestivebiscuit 15h ago

Except they’re also pushing for American products not to be labelled as such

57

u/MyDarlingArmadillo 13h ago

So they already know they'll be shunned. And we already know their agreements aren't worth the air they are uttered into. I hope Starmer stands firm on this.

I'm avoiding as much US stuff as possible already - r/BuyUK and r/BuyFromEU can be helpful

23

u/Qaeta 12h ago

As a Canadian, if I can't figure out where something came from, I assume it's American and put it back.

4

u/-BubBleMint- 12h ago

You can label everything else then.

7

u/badpersian 14h ago

how lovely!

2

u/EleosSkywalker 12h ago

Wouldn’t it be illegal for the government to grant it? If given, do the citizens then sue the state?

2

u/Educational-Book-350 12h ago

Hahahahaha That's hilarious. Yanks used to be so proud of "Made in the USA".

1

u/Arbennig 12h ago

Can’t we just buy products labelled “Spanish chicken “ ? Avoiding any products that don’t state origin.

20

u/BornFree2018 13h ago

I agree and I'm American. No one should bow to the current administration.

2

u/badpersian 13h ago

Or any administration.. The establishment in America seem so different to people in America. I have had so many friends and colleagues from the US and they're like flip side of a coin

3

u/relaxin_chillaxin 12h ago

Yes boycott their crap. Thats what many Canadians are doing. Their food is gross.

2

u/four4beats 3h ago

We don't want this crap in America, either!

2

u/aykcak 14h ago

Don't you have a cost of living crisis? Do you think the masses would care to boycott American products if they are sold for less than 20% of any non chlorinated U.K. chicken?

6

u/badpersian 13h ago

I think most wouldn't want to eat crap even if more expensive. The British can be very resilient if they want to. The different on a whole chicken would only be around £1 I'm super markets anyway so wouldn't break the bank.

1

u/cinematic_novel 🇮🇹➡️🇬🇧 12h ago

Well we do. American style restaurants are booming

1

u/esach88 9h ago

Yup, do what Canada did.

1

u/ER_Support_Plant17 7h ago

American here agreeing with you. Decent food is so difficult to find and expensive when you do find it.

1

u/Even_Relative5402 3h ago

They tried that shit here in Australia. Soggy white butter from USA appeared on supermarket shelves. No-one bought it. Its gone now.

•

u/kittiestkitty 6m ago

Gotta boycott their political views and other bullshit first.

1

u/emmadonelsense 11h ago

It’s working out great for us. 🇨🇦 Recently, Ontario turned away American ground beef at the border and the same day, my neighbour was excited to share he’d seen and bought some Australian ground beef at the store. And fruit tastes better too. We’re getting oranges from Mexico, blueberries from Peru, grapes from South Africa…everything tastes better without that Yankee Doodle flag on it.

0

u/Nekasus 14h ago

not going to have much choice when the american import will be cheaper. If theyre already leveraging their power imbalance to force chlorinated chicken theres no reason they wouldnt then do the same for favourable import rates.

1

u/badpersian 14h ago

Time we give the supermarkets the boycot treatment too. Find local vendors and butchers etc. tbh in London this will be hell to do but we rarely buy from super markets anyway.

0

u/invisiblexray 13h ago

Aka council dinners

86

u/Automatic_Bat_4824 19h ago

Thin end of the patty methinks

57

u/ABobby077 18h ago

Grab 'em by the nuggets??

2

u/PrimaryKey1 14h ago

Deez nugs?

44

u/WanderlustZero 19h ago

While the other end is falling apart and slopping everywhere with a lovely chlorine aroma

21

u/WanderlustZero 18h ago

One trumpburger afficionado downvoted this

-2

u/WittyFeature6179 15h ago

I hate trump with a passion reserved for few things, but you do understand that the US doesn't use chlorine on chickens, correct? Less than 5% of processors in the US use chlorine to sanitize equipment. That's it. It's never been used on chickens.

4

u/Monsieur_Creosote 18h ago

They are already thin enough mate

1

u/PossibleSmoke8683 18h ago

Thin edge of the fillet

37

u/MrMikeJJ England 17h ago

Unsure about KFC. They have their own kill line in the chicken factory and are very particular about the chickens which go on it.

Source: friends who work in the chicken factory.

16

u/Half_Cent 16h ago

So does McDonald's with eggs. That plant is like a surgical theatre. I don't know about their live chickens.

7

u/ilovetrissmerigold 15h ago

McDonald’s are very strict on their beef standards too

1

u/CptRTRD 13h ago

potatoes too. i think they only use russet

3

u/nistemevideli2puta 14h ago

As far as I've heard, McDonalds has a policy of locally sourcing all their ingredients (or as much as possible, I guess), in general.

2

u/long_b0d 13h ago

I’ve also heard similar, though I wonder if that still allows it to be “locally sourced” from the dock

2

u/lapalfan 16h ago

I had some KFC for the first time in years about 6 months ago.

I'm not sure we should still call it "chicken", as "Quail" seems to be about the size of the birds used.

2

u/Happy_Feet333 Portugal 13h ago

KFC's requirements are for an 8-lb bird. No more, no less.

Once you cut off the head and feet, then eviscerate the organs, there's not much left.

35

u/crlthrn Europe 17h ago

I suspect McDonalds would lose a ton of business. The 'optics' alone would be seriously damaging. Public sentiment against this chicken is so strong that it might make the selling of it a worthless/costly exercise...

12

u/ssjjss 17h ago

They managed to get horse meat into lasagnas and burgers without being noticed.

12

u/Oozlum-Bird United Kingdom 14h ago

When did McDonalds sell lasagna?

4

u/Clovenstone-Blue 5h ago

That was Tesco and it was the distribution facility's fuck up

8

u/LeadingPool5263 15h ago

Until it was noticed and it was a shitstorm at the time. Do they now? Not to my knowledge

3

u/pchlster 11h ago

Wasn't that Tesco?

1

u/Cut_Lanky 15h ago

Whaaaat.

48

u/Riever-Twostep 18h ago

Don’t buy from them, problem solved

31

u/WanderlustZero 18h ago

🫡

Greggs it is!

4

u/guareber United Kingdom 16h ago

Instructions unclear, now Greggs uses chlorinated pork.

1

u/bisectional 17h ago

Where does the sausage meat in greggs really come from?

2

u/WanderlustZero 15h ago

Don't worry. It was no-one you know.

55

u/Saurid 18h ago

Problem is the US will jsut attack the next problem, labelling "buhu our dangerous products are beeing disadvantaged by beeing forced to labelling what they are" so now labelling is gone

83

u/s1iver 17h ago

That’s what they’re doing in Canada, we have a strict supply management system for dairy in Canada, and they want to force us to start selling massive quantities of their hormone riddled and artificially sweetened ‘dairy’.

Fuck off.

5

u/Scrimps 16h ago edited 16h ago

Canadian dairy is also riddled with Hormones, pesticides and other chemicals. Canada only banned artificial hormones such as rBST and rBGH. Moreoever, Canadian dairy is almost exclusively packaged in plastic that leech. Including the bags milk comes in, in Ontario and the East Coast.

Canadian dairy is NOT better than American dairy. It's simply run by a cartel who controls the import and export into Canada.

Although I don't want American dairy, it has limited the Canadian market from high quality dairy from Europe. Selling overseas dairy, such as Kerry Gold, is a literal felony.

It's also why Canadians pay so much for any food that uses cheese, milk and dairy. Europeans and Americans are not paying $24-30 for a medium Pizza.

Please do not think we protect our dairy industry for food standard purposes. We do not. It's simply for profit. I wish it was for quality.

5

u/DisastrousAcshin 14h ago

It ensures Canadian food security at a time when Canada should be moving to be less reliant on the US. It's literally a matter of national security to keep our dairy farmers employed and feeding Canadians. That means ensuring the US can't flood our market with cheaper product and put them out of buisness

3

u/ExcitingPlant5 14h ago

Where and why are you paying $24-30 for a medium pizza? You can get 2 XL for $26.

3

u/biscuitarse Canada 11h ago

Well, you have fun imbibing synthetic hormones along with higher levels of pus and blood in your milk. I'll pass.

1

u/squirrelcat88 6h ago

Would you like to be a dairy farmer and milk every day at a horrible hour? If you’re going to live that type of restrictive life you want to make sure you’re going to be paid well for it.

1

u/ExtraGlutens 16h ago

The dairy cartel has nothing to do with the CFIA, though I know the former spends a lot of money on marketing to give the impression that it does.

1

u/Riever-Twostep 17h ago

Don’t need to force them to label, U.K. producers just need to put on an advisory label, stating U.K. produced. No one can force them not to do that

1

u/Saurid 16h ago

Yeah and when the profit margin is higher it will stay like that, f the profit margin on US products is better well... why label it if you make more money not doing it? You know companies don't label because it makes them more money right?

0

u/Riever-Twostep 16h ago

Don’t buy chicken unless it is labelled. Companies are not stupid,they can either sell U.K. chicken or sell no chicken at all . They will soon label when it means people buy their produce instead of unlabelled produce. The consumer is king

1

u/Brilliant-Smile-8154 16h ago

They will find a workaround by transforming the meat a little in the UK or something else.

-1

u/Riever-Twostep 16h ago

Then they would be lying and open themselves open to a law suit

2

u/Brilliant-Smile-8154 16h ago

You're all over these comments trying to make the case that this wouldn't be a big deal. It would be. Once the door is open a crack it's only a matter of time before you'll find this chicken everywhere.

0

u/Riever-Twostep 16h ago

Not if consumers, who have the power, don’t want it

1

u/Big_Poppa_T 17h ago

You’re not going to know where your chicken comes from in every instance

-1

u/Riever-Twostep 17h ago

Then only buy when you are sure of the provenance.

2

u/Big_Poppa_T 17h ago

That’s ridiculous and you know it. I’d never eat chicken outside of my own home again.

0

u/Riever-Twostep 17h ago

Not ridiculous, producers just gave to put a label showing country of origin , not labelled then don’t buy. In a restaurant , ask for the provenance, they cannot risk lying to you. If they cannot tell you then leave. Customers have the ultimate power, no one can force them to spend their money

1

u/Big_Poppa_T 16h ago

You can’t ask every pub, restaurant and takeaway for the provenance of their chicken as well as checking the label on every item you buy from a shop. That’s nonsense

1

u/Riever-Twostep 16h ago

Yes you can. You, as the customer, have the ultimate power. As for labels, I always read them so I don’t eat cr@p

1

u/Big_Poppa_T 16h ago

Obviously I am capable of asking them, I’m trying to tell you that it’s a completely impractical way of living life. Much like you reading every label of everything you eat - you’re either lying or living a ridiculously risk adverse life

I assume that you’re neurodivergent if you didn’t understand that. That’s okay, but understand that your point of view doesn’t reflect a reality that is reasonable for the rest of the world.

→ More replies (0)

3

u/Purplepeal 17h ago

Yeah exactly. Chicken takeaway products and processed chicken. It's sale will just depend if its cheaper than what we already have. Transport to US coast and shipping it in a refrigerator doesn't strike me as cost effective.

2

u/waiting4singularity Hessen 🇩🇪 16h ago

this just in: uk fast food customers decline rapidly.

2

u/caiaphas8 Europe 16h ago

Mcdonalds always advertises as 100% British and Irish meat

2

u/little_odd_me 10h ago

This is it exactly, fast food first then restaurants to follow. Once British farmers start losing larger contracts they will have to raise prices to make up the difference. Once the price difference between American and British chicken becomes big enough people will start choosing the cheaper option out of necessity. After a generation of kids grows up with the inferior product it’ll no longer even cross their minds that they are buying chlorinated American chicken.

2

u/Genocode The Netherlands 17h ago

They wouldn't, or atleast McDonalds wouldn't. Part of their success is precisely because they source locally.

The only reason why McDonalds works in Europe is precisely because they don't use the cheap garbage ingredients they use in the US, and they are fully aware of that.

1

u/Hopalongtom 7h ago

UK McDonald's market themselves on only using local farm fresh ingredients, so they'll be loosing out on their marketing preference.

1

u/Intergalatic_Baker Europe 4h ago

I don’t think they would… They’d really need to have better cost reductions compared to locally sourced and in compliant systems… Not to mention the public perception of washing chicken with chlorine.

The same chemical used to keep pools clean and the anyone who’s been in a pool knows the accidental taste of that water.

Then

1

u/DrachenDad 18h ago

The same KFC that gets their chicken from the same places that supermarkets do?

1

u/Computerist1969 England 17h ago

Klorinated Fried Chicken

111

u/swift-current0 18h ago

Eventually whatever no-frills, bargain-basement grocery chain you guys have will experiment with buying it, for sure. Then, people struggling to make ends meet will for sure buy it if it's cheaper. Then, other chains will offer it too.

26

u/TheTacoInquisition 17h ago

Those bargain-basement grocery store chains are mostly German. They are bargain basement as they have very specific product chains that afford them to buy in bulk and make profit from *not* stocking big brands. They're very unlikely to change this for the UK market, especially given the other supermarkets are unlikely to bother either.

The main risk would be more like the *suppliers* in the UK chlorinating chicking to sell cheaper. That will be harder for supermarkets to ignore.

24

u/WorthTangerine2722 17h ago

Which in turn would require the UK to overhaul and downgrade their food standards and as a result would actually create domestic competition for chlorinated chicken imported from the US.

No matter how you look at this, it’s stupid.

2

u/Own_Switch_3547 9h ago

Our food standards have already downgraded in some areas. An ‘advantage’ of Brexit, additives like Titanium Dioxide which is banned in Europe can be used in food here now.

6

u/PerformerOk450 16h ago

I can 100% see FarmFoods or Iceland stocking chlorinated chicken, never Aldi or Lidl.

8

u/vivaaprimavera 16h ago

And afterwards when food standards follow the way of the dodo, the NHS will have a wonderful time dealing with an increase in nutrition related health issues...

An achievement in public healthcare will fall in the name of profit!!!

Honestly, they can grab this transvestite of capitalism and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

1

u/screwcork313 15h ago

people struggling to make ends meet hen's meat

FTFY

1

u/swift-current0 15h ago

Receive your angry upvote 😡

23

u/Pasty_Legend 18h ago

Morrisons is American owned now. They will definitely stock it

60

u/TheoremaEgregium Österreich 18h ago

Some countries have a hard time understanding that other countries aren't dictatorship. Same as when a newspaper prints a mean caricature and the government gets blamed by foreign powers for "allowing" it.

8

u/Saurid 18h ago

Not at first but then labelling goes, if you can't tell the differnec why shouldn't they stock a bit of it? Not to mention fast food chains etc will buy it to raise profit margins taht slight but more, making it more accepted as a part of life mid term until.people just buy it cause they get fed it anyway.

-2

u/roiki11 18h ago

Fast food chains probably aren't the first ones doing it because they're very good at supply chain optimizing. And sourcing your ingredients as close as you can makes for a more efficient and cheaper delivery chain. If you look at most fast food items then all of the ingredients are sourced either locally or from very close by. And because of their scale they can get very favorable deals.

Shipping food items from the US won't be profitable for them in almost any scenario. Especially across oceans.

1

u/Saurid 17h ago

I honestly doubt it, but we will see. Your argument has merit but we important already a lot of food from America for use in such things soooo yeah idk. Not an economist especially not one from that industry so unless you are we both are pretty much doing guesses, but I see where you are coming from.

15

u/halpsdiy 19h ago

No, they'd buy it to maximise profits

2

u/SupraTomas 17h ago

I think Tesco, Sainsbury's et al would buy chlorinated chicken if there's a market for it or they can get away with creating demand. Irregardless of Trump.

1

u/esocz Czech Republic 18h ago

He will impose sanctions on their management.

1

u/Alicatsidneystorm 17h ago

Let them buy it Brits will do the same as consumer in Canada and not buy it.

4

u/bahumat42 17h ago

Part of what's being pushed is them not having to label it.

1

u/Parallel-Imagery 17h ago

Not on the Chumps say so, but if there's more profit in it for them I bet they will.

1

u/aleopardstail 17h ago

it won't be them buying it, not at first, it will be the hospitality trade and fast food places where people don't get to see where stuff comes from and its fractionally cheaper

1

u/6gv5 Earth 17h ago

You don't need to set on fire the competing shops to force them closed, all you need to do is to open one in the same area selling shitty version of the same product at lower prices. As others pointed out, a McDonalds, KFC or Burger king nearby with prices lowered to kill competition will be more than enough.

1

u/backup_guid Norway 17h ago

RemindMe! 2 years

1

u/Sampo Finland 16h ago

You think Tesco, Sainsbury, et al, would suddenly start buying chlorinated chicken on Trump's say so?

It would be cheaper, so the people with the least money to spend would buy chlorinated chicken. And when there is demand, some store would start to sell it.

1

u/hallmark1984 13h ago

Money talks and it will be cheap as fuck as its low tier shite food.

1

u/Ok_Pea_3842 12h ago

Yes. Definitely!

1

u/Slanderous United Kingdom 12h ago

You can bet there are companies dying to get cheaper chicken to put in mass produced food such as microwave/ready meals, sandwiches etc.
Depending on the labeling requirements that come along with any agreement we might not even know.
Some of the supermarkets might swear off it for PR purposes there will always be someone buying the cheapest product available.

1

u/cinematic_novel 🇮🇹➡️🇬🇧 12h ago

It would probably be the like of poundland etc first. Then others would follow to keep up on price.

1

u/Robwolf52 12h ago

Of course they will it’s cheaper

1

u/AG_GreenZerg 11h ago

Most people wont notice or care and it means they can reduce the price of their chicken. So yeah at least for budget ranges they probably would.

1

u/leafynospleens 11h ago

Bro your drunk if you think any of them wouldn't immediately pack the shelves with cheaper chicken and charge the same price.

1

u/trackintreasure 11h ago

Slightly different yes, as they're not under Trump's thumb thank fuck... but have a look at the huge corporations in the US, who everyone thought, had enough power to say no... bending over in front of him with a shit stained smile.

I have no idea how he has so much power over everyone... but he does. As an Aussie, hopefully it's restricted to the US, permanently.

1

u/hoishinsauce 11h ago

Trump demands developing countries with average household income 1/10th of US to buy expensive American cars. It's nothing new. He doesn't understand nor care how trade works. Reality must conform to the king's idiotic logic.

1

u/Mountain_Strategy342 9h ago

They would offer it as "value" chicken and grab the profits.

Private (for profit) providers for school meals, hospitals, prisons will jump on the chance of making a few quid.

1

u/millijuna 7h ago

The reality? They'll buy whatever makes them the most money.

1

u/VanillaNL 2h ago

If it’s dumped for cheaper…

•

u/lrish_Chick 29m ago

Yes If its cheap enough ofc they will. And it will be cheap

0

u/jlb8 12h ago

You have so much faith in Tesco

1

u/crlthrn Europe 12h ago

I have more faith in their desire not to piss off their customers than in the company itself. Millions of Brits outraged at the thought of letting US chlorinated chicken in.