The decision by Britain to leave the EU would not immediately spring to mind as a cause for concern over food safety. Neither would the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA.
However, decisions made in haste or with little forethought can often have unexpected consequences.
It now appears that a trade agreement between the US and UK might result in food products banned in the EU being imported into the UK. This might include beef from cattle implanted with growth hormones, chlorine-washed chicken, and unlabelled genetically modified (GM) foods.
This has resulted in a furore on FaceBook, though the concern about chlorine-washed chicken is a little surprising. Chlorine rinses are used extensively in the food industry to reduce surface contamination on vegetables, during chicken processing and for sanitation of equipment during food processing.
Of course, chlorine is also used in water treatment for decontamination of potable water supplies where UV treatment is not used, perhaps for cost cosiderations.
Over the years, a lot of work has been done on the effects of chlorine in foods. At the levels used for practical decontamination, there is no risk to human health, though some chemical changes are inevitable.
If you are keen to follow up on this, The Institute for Environmental and Scientific Research Limited, (ESR) in New Zealand produced a report in 2008 for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority: Client Report FW0883 CHLORINATED COMPOUNDS FORMED DURING CHLORINE WASH OF CHICKEN MEAT.
It is available on-line at: http://www.foodsafety.govt.nz/elibrary/industry/chlorinated-compounds-formed-research-projects/FW0883_Chlorinated_compounds_in_chicken_meat.pdf
The report stated that "In conclusion, no safety issues were identified due to the use of chlorine dioxide and ASC for poultry carcass disinfection. Chlorination reactions appear to be insignificant for these compounds and oxidation reactions do not appear to result in significant alteration of the fatty acid and amino acid composition of poultry carcasses". Further, the authors stated " ...we consider that there is insufficient evidence to justify further investigation of the risks to human health from the use of these disinfection chemicals in poultry processing".
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