19.12.2008

EU

EU farm ministers overwhelmingly rejected a proposal on Thursday (18/12) to lift Europe's 11-year ban on U.S. poultry imports, despite strict conditions designed to ensure consumer safety.
The dispute over chlorine-washed chickens has soured the European Union's relations with the United States, its largest trading partner, since the EU embargo was imposed in April 1997.
At a meeting in Brussels, EU ministers rejected a draft law authored by the European Commission, that would have seen the ban lifted. Of the EU's 27 member countries, 26 voted to reject the proposal; Britain abstained: the same country voting pattern as when national EU experts last debated the issue.
The US food industry uses the chlorine washing process on its poultry to kill off bacteria, including salmonella, before it reaches consumers' plates.