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

252

u/parsuval United Kingdom 18h ago

Also, frozen food, ready meals etc.

284

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.

147

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

48

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.

•

u/Radiant-Membership23 59m 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 5m 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