18.01.2009

US - EU

The United States filed a WTO complaint, challenging the European Union's long-standing ban on importing chicken meat that has been treated with chemicals such as chlorine dioxide to kill pathogens, which is a common practice in the U.S. industry.
The U.S. chicken industry currently exports about 16% of its production to customers such as Russia and China.
In May last year, EU Industry Commissioner Guenter Verheugen proposed lifting restrictions on US poultry under certain conditions, including special labels identifying the process and guarantees the meat would be rinsed.
But veterinarians, EU governments and the European Parliament could not be convinced and EU farm ministers on December 18 rejected attempts to lift the restrictions on US poultry.