U.S. Poultry Industry Asks WTO to Examine European Ban on Antimicrobials
The National Chicken Council and several other industry groups have signed a letter to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, requesting the initiation of a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute settlement panel to re-establish poultry exports to Europe. According to the letter, the European Union prohibits four antimicrobials commonly applied in the United States to reduce pathogens on processed poultry. The trade groups have reportedly estimated that U.S. poultry exports could exceed $300 million if EU regulators permitted the in plant use of chlorine dioxide, trisodium phosphate, acidified sodium chlorite and peracetic acid in products destined for the European market. “[T]he United States should continue to pursue with the European Union resolution of the issue,” stated the letter, which concluded that “it would be most appropriate to take the issue to the next step in the WTO dispute settlement process.” See NCC News Release, October 1, 2009; Law360, October 2, 2009.
In a related development, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has published a survey identifying campylobacter in two-thirds of retail chicken samples. The bacteria sickens approximately 55,000 people annually in Britain, but FSA has thus far been unsuccessful in its efforts to reduce the incidence of campylobacter illnesses linked to undercooked chicken and cross-contamination from raw poultry. The agency has noted that soaking poultry in a chlorinated wash before distribution could reduce the infection rate, although the practice is currently outlawed in the European Union. “We need to look at this procedure and see if we can implement it here,” FSA Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge was quoted as saying. “It is widely used in the United States. From a public health perspective it’s not helpful to limit the tools we’ve got, and a chlorinated wash would be harmless to consumers.” See FSA Press Release and Times Online, October 6, 2009.
