US/UK trade deal?

Dear God, I have never heard of so much victim blaming! You need a fridge to keep milk cool and a toaster or oven to make toast. Some families don't have that, are living in bed and breakfast rooms with no or limited access to cooking facilities, hence the need for takeaway food. Anyway, I don't see what's wrong with families having fish and chips occasionally, especially if they're poor. Smaller quantities of better quality food? These families are about filling bellies and making money go as far as it can. Quality food costs more than cheaper food. You sound like 30p Lee Anderson. Tell me you don't know what it's like to live in absolute poverty- just read your post.

NotSpaghetti

I'm sorry David but why do we have food banks?

And Chocolatelovinggran - why should the poorest amongst us be put in a situation where their food standards offer is so low?

If you have ever worked with struggling families you soon realise the privilege of having a real choice.

It’s not the cost of food that’s the problem it’s the cost of other stuff, we don’t have housing banks where you can get free housing.

None of our cats will touch Costco (usa) chicken . I know it sounds mad but we decided if they won’t eat it ,neither will we. This includes a stray cat we fed which normally would eat absolutely anything. We don’t have so many ready meals here, not much to choose from , easier to buy fresh.

I'm sorry David but why do we have food banks?

And Chocolatelovinggran - why should the poorest amongst us be put in a situation where their food standards offer is so low?

If you have ever worked with struggling families you soon realise the privilege of having a real choice.

Hmm , MaizieD - so the makers of this product don't want it labelled. I wonder why....?

The cost of food is not really an issue for low income families, their highest expenditure is housing cost. We do not have a problem with starvation the problem is obesity - too much high calorie junk food.
I do most of the food shopping and meal planning and there are plenty of basic food ingredients on supermarket shelves at budget prices. Many families would benefit from smaller quantities of better quality food, basic family nutrition is not rocket science, it just takes a little more time and thought instead of buying ready meals, takeaways. In particular I just don’t understand why parents can’t give the kids a glass of milk and a piece of toast or cereals before school, are they really short of 5 mins?.

Grantanow

Nothing at the expense of a closer relationship with the EU, our most important trading partner.

Definitely. I hope RR treads carefully.

That would cause real difficulty with our trade with the EU I would have thought.

The EU is our biggest customer.

Chocolatelovinggran

You may well be right NotSpaghetti, but it does offer a way around a potential deal breaker. As you say, it may provide cheaper food for our neediest families as well.
Labelling gives everyone a choice: I suspect that the market for such a product might be a little disappointing to the USA exporters.

Last time there was publicity about a potential deal with the US, during the post Brexit Boris Johnson era, (which never happened) one of the proposed conditions from the US side was that there was no labelling of country of origin. I suspect that might be brought up again...

Ilovecheese

Wylow3 that is what I think as well. He doesn't want us making a closer trading alliance with the EU or other countries in preference to the USA. He wants us to believe that we can't possibly manage without America.

I completely agree with you and with Wylow and not really sure why anyone would want to work with Trump or Vance

You may well be right NotSpaghetti, but it does offer a way around a potential deal breaker. As you say, it may provide cheaper food for our neediest families as well.
Labelling gives everyone a choice: I suspect that the market for such a product might be a little disappointing to the USA exporters.

Sadly meat-eating families on very low incomes will eat it if it's cheap enough, Chocolatelovinggran.

If you are simply filling bellies you will buy what you can.

People on better incomes will buy birds which have been farmed differently. Those with more cash still (or who are more concerned about animal welfare will probably buy organic. I expect middle income families may well buy organic too - just less of it.

I'm a vegetarian, so my views on chlorinated chicken are possibly a little left field, but if this potentially scuppers the deal we need , I say, let it in - labelled clearly " Chlorinated Chicken from the USA".
We'll see how much of that is bought...

I was brought up to believe that the USA was my friend and ally.

The trust has been broken.

The USA is no longer a friend or ally of the UK or of Europe.

We certainly seem to need labelling clarity. "Produced in the x (country named) to UK food standards". The EU does still buy a lot of food from us, (although we buy more from them) it does seem horribly complicated.

Petra I looked milk and the EU up and got

"The phrase "EU wont buy UK milk" is likely a misunderstanding related to the "Not for EU" labelling on some British goods.

This labeling, introduced as part of the Windsor Framework, indicates that these products are intended for sale within the UK and Northern Ireland, and are not meant for the EU market.
It doesn't signify that the milk is of lower quality or fails to meet EU standards.

keepingquiet

I just hope it gets labelled so we know what we're eating.

I was going to buy some chicken wings recently until I saw the label- not for EU, then put it back.

The EU has the highest food standards in the world. The chicken was an American brand... no thanks.

Oh dear 🤦🏼‍♀️ It’s got diddly squat to do with food standards. My milk states that it’s not for eu consumption.

"Farmers have already been sold down the river"

Well no need to make it more difficult. I dont think meat products should come into the reckoning, so far they seem to be talking about cars, steel, etc.

Ok, thanks for that. The minefield is about the get much bigger and more difficult to navigate I suspect.

It was TGI Friday brand- not raw chicken. I'm avoiding all US brands as much as I can- though I do have a weakness for chicken wings!

I was going to buy some chicken wings recently until I saw the label- not for EU, then put it back.

'Not for EU' is because we don't have a trade agreement with them that allows free movement of meat products across the EU border. It doesn't necessarily mean that the product doesn't conform to EU standards. OTOH, if it is a US product I do't blame you being cautious though I don't think they're allowed in the UK unless they meet our standards. |

Of course, it might have been produced in the UK for the US company, in which case it 'should' be fine.

International trade in animal products is a minefield, I think...

Whitewavemark2

David49

Whitewavemark2

Apparently Reeves is playing down the idea of an early trade deal, saying that she intends to get the best for the U.K.

I hope it isn’t similar to the trashing of our environmental protection that labour have been involved in, if so, we are buggered.

Any hope of an easy deal is not realistic - even within the 90 days period.
As for food standards, it has been a big issue for many years, however there is a big organic and conservation food movement in the US that do produce food to our standards. It may well be possible to allow certified supply of selected products into the UK.

And our farmers?

Farmers have already been sold down the river

David49

Whitewavemark2

Apparently Reeves is playing down the idea of an early trade deal, saying that she intends to get the best for the U.K.

I hope it isn’t similar to the trashing of our environmental protection that labour have been involved in, if so, we are buggered.

Any hope of an easy deal is not realistic - even within the 90 days period.
As for food standards, it has been a big issue for many years, however there is a big organic and conservation food movement in the US that do produce food to our standards. It may well be possible to allow certified supply of selected products into the UK.

And our farmers?

Whitewavemark2

Apparently Reeves is playing down the idea of an early trade deal, saying that she intends to get the best for the U.K.

I hope it isn’t similar to the trashing of our environmental protection that labour have been involved in, if so, we are buggered.

Any hope of an easy deal is not realistic - even within the 90 days period.
As for food standards, it has been a big issue for many years, however there is a big organic and conservation food movement in the US that do produce food to our standards. It may well be possible to allow certified supply of selected products into the UK.

I just hope it gets labelled so we know what we're eating.

I was going to buy some chicken wings recently until I saw the label- not for EU, then put it back.

The EU has the highest food standards in the world. The chicken was an American brand... no thanks.

Apparently Reeves is playing down the idea of an early trade deal, saying that she intends to get the best for the U.K.

I hope it isn’t similar to the trashing of our environmental protection that labour have been involved in, if so, we are buggered.

It reminds me of the time when 'mad cow disease ' was prevalent and some government minister (Gummer?) made his children eat beef burgers in an attempt to say everything was ok.
I have no wish to eat anything that came from USA. There's stuff I can't avoid, but dodgy meat is a step too far