[JakeTheAndroid]

My understanding is the chemical wash isn't the inherent issue here. It's the fact that they need to be chemically washed in the first place. Due to factory farming, chickens live in piles of their own poop, and with that comes tons of other unhealthy side effects. To combat that, in the US we simply give them a chemical bath.

The issue at hand is that the EU doesn't want low quality chicken entering the market because it could cause health issues if not cleaned properly, and at the volume we produce, it's likelier than not to be done improperly at some point, at scale. It's just not worth the risk.

But, I could be missing the mark entirely. This is all from memory when I read up on EU food standards a few years ago. My memory of all of these things could be completely off here.

[mech1234]

Seems to me like the real motivation is defending their own agricultural industry. American chicken is cheaper and likely just as good. The health claims are weak, everyone can understand protectionism, but it is often masked behind other claimed goals.

The data on salmonella is not super solid, but points to higher levels in the U.S. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-47440562

[gambiting]

>>Seems to me like the real motivation is defending their own agricultural industry. American chicken is cheaper and likely just as good.

Well...if you stop and think about it for a second - of course it is. If our, European farmers have to abide by certain animal welfare standards and the American ones don't, then of course American meat will be cheaper. Equally, I wouldn't want to eat chicken meat from China or Vietnam - their animal standards are nowhere near ours, so why should they be sold here? If Americans improve their standards then they are welcome to our markets.

[paganel]

The US imported food has been the stuff of jokes in my country for almost 20 years now, even before we entered the EU, and we are an Eastern-European country with all sorts of other problems. Can’t really understand how can many US commenters say that US food is as good and healthy as European food with a straight face.

[jshevek]

Many US residents are speaking from their own experience as consumers, and probably only experience the lowest quality chicken after it has been turned into highly processed foods like chicken nuggets or dogs, masking the quality issues.

The chicken that many US commenters see as intact wings and breasts are probably higher quality than the exports (unless they go specifically to a discount store specializing in low quality foods).

[crazypyro]

Isn't it obvious the stuff that gets imported isn't the same stuff that all Americans eat? The US isn't exactly exporting tons of fresh food all the way to Eastern Europe.

Of course its gonna be mostly packaged, mass produced crap....

[paganel]

Hence why we're against treating said "mostly packaged, mass produced crap" the same as local European food.

[crazypyro]

Except part of the reason you have mostly packaged, mass produced crap is because of your own regulations which specifically try to block the US market to protect your home markets.

That's besides the point though, you said US food isn't as healthy as EU food. You didn't say "imported, mass produced stuff isn't as healthy as fresh EU produce and meat". I was simply saying that you are getting a very skewed perception of US food if you are only comparing against imported US food.

US food in the US is generally high quality.

[lhopki01]

Having lived in Europe (UK, France) and North America (Canada) I can assure you that American chicken is not just as good. It's not just chicken. All sorts of meats are worse in quality.

[ksec]

>All sorts of meats are worse in quality.

Well not really, especially when it comes to Beef. Pork has has a rather diverse selection from both side, but generally I think they are about the same.

[lhopki01]

I should clarify. It's not impossible to get higher quality meat but it's harder. I can go into almost any supermarket in the UK or France and get very high quality meat easily. I find that in Canada and the US it's much harder to find good quality meat in a supermarket. I have to go to more specialized places. Similarly the lower end in Canada and the US tends to be much lower than the lower end in the UK and France.

Don't even get me started on trying to get unsmoked ham but that's a cultural thing.

[ska]

Like many things in the US, there is a huge range. I think it's probably true that at the lower end of the cost spectrum in most meats, the US produces more cheaper and lower quality stuff. Particularly the average grocery store inexpensive chicken isn't good, but it's cheap and super plentiful.

That's a long way from "all sort of meats are worse in quality", though.

[djohnston]

Having lived in the UK and the US, I actually can't tell the difference in any meaningful way. High quality poultry costs more and is better in both places. Both places have sketchy chicken shacks that probably don't use high quality meat, although I CAN assure you that Harold's in Chicago exceeds any chicken shack I've tried in the UK.

[magduf]

Considering that salmonella is far, far worse in the US than in the EU, your claim that American chicken is "likely just as good" is obviously false.

[jshevek]

Salmonella in the US is [more often] due to greens [than] chicken.

Do you have any data on rates of salmonella from chicken, specifically, in both regions?

Edit:

"Chicken, beef and pork account for just 33% of salmonella poisonings in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture"

https://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/foods-more-lik...

[I_AM_A_SMURF]

Nope. See current top post, the US gets an order of magnitude more salmonella infections beacuse of bad food safety.