Thread by @JoeWStanley

There’s a lot of talk around comparative 🇬🇧/🇺🇸 standards when it comes to #food and future #trade deals; but what do these differences mean in practice? ⤵️

[Thread, 1/10]

EGGS 🥚

🇬🇧 - Minimum legal requirement of enriched cages (750 sq cm) + perch, nest box & litter.

🇺🇸 - No federal laws on hen welfare; voluntary guidelines suggest cages of 432 sq cm.

US 🍳 costs = 28% lower. That’s no yolk.

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CHICKEN 🐓

🇬🇧 - Only potable water permitted to wash carcasses. Legal maximum stocking densities/AMR protocols apply.

🇺🇸 - No legal maximum stocking densities in major 🍗 producing states - Pathogen Reduction Treatments (eg chlorine dioxide) required to wash carcasses 🦠

3/10

BEEF 🥩

🇬🇧 - Growth hormones banned since 1981. Primarily grass-based herds, average size 27 animals.

🇺🇸 - Hormones widely used. Primarily grain feedlot based; 1000+ cattle herds = 90% of output.

💊 Hormones = 20-30% ⬆️ productivity.

4/10

PORK 🥓

🇬🇧 - Sow stalls banned in 1999. Growth hormones banned in 1996. Predominantly housed in straw beds.

🇺🇸 - Sow stalls legal in 41 states. Ractopamine growth hormones used in 60-80% of pigs. Predominantly housed on slatted floors.

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DAIRY 🥛

🇬🇧 - Somatic cell count (SCC) limit (indicator of cow health/welfare) 400,000. Hormones banned in 1990.

🇺🇸 - SCC limit 750,000. Widespread use of BST growth hormone, believed to cause significant cow health/welfare issues.

6/10

CROPS 🌾

🇬🇧 - Restricted access to modern crop protection technologies as a result of 🇪🇺 ‘hazard based’ approach.

🇺🇸 - Full access time technologies such as GM & neonic seed treatments ➡️ greater productivity & reduced costs.

7/10

ANTIBIOTICS 💊

🇬🇧 - 53% ⤵️ in farm AB use 2014-18. Now the 5th lowest user in 🇪🇺

🇺🇸 - Despite 2017 federal rules, ABs crucial to human health still being used in ‘unacceptable’ quantities on farms to boost productivity.

🔎By 2050 10m could die annually from AMR across 🌍

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TRANSPORT 🚛

🇬🇧 - Maximum legal journey time for livestock of 12 hours. Maximum livestock densities mandated.

🇺🇸 - Maximum journey times of 28 hours. No restrictions on maximum livestock densities.

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#Farmers everywhere work to provide #food to the best of their ability within their regulatory framework.

But our government can’t let our world-leading 🇬🇧 standards be undercut by imports of food it would be illegal to produce here.

#TradeStandards
#BackBritishFarming

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