The NFU has welcomed the government’s commitment to safeguarding UK food and farming standards but has reiterated its call for legislation to prevent food imports into the UK that have been produced in ways that are illegal here.
Responding to the publication of the UK’s negotiating mandate for trade talks with the USA, NFU President Minette Batters said:
“The government has restated its commitment to uphold our own high food production standards, and while this is important, we still need a legal commitment to safeguard British food and farming from imports that have been produced using methods that would be illegal for our farmers to use here.
“We hope a trade deal with the US will provide one of many opportunities for British farmers to deliver more great British food overseas. And we are confident, if we are assured a level playing field to compete on, that we can lead the way when it comes to sustainable, high welfare and climate-friendly food and farming.
“There is no doubt that UK negotiators will come under significant pressure to find ways of allowing the US greater access to the UK market for food that does not meet our own production standards.
“If we are to ensure any country negotiating a trade deal with the UK is left in no doubt as to our government’s position on food production standards, it needs to be enshrined in law that all food imports will be held to the same standards of environmental protection, animal welfare and food safety as UK farmers.
“British farmers need to know that their businesses won’t be undercut by food imports that they would be unable to produce here legally – just as the public need assurance that the food they buy has been produced to those same high standards, regardless of where it has come from.”
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