BARROW MP Simon Fell has backed the Government’s decision on controversial trade deal imports such as chlorine-washed chicken and hormone treated beef.

This comes after concerned members of the public approached The Mail to question the Member of Parliament on his view of the matter.

Concerns regarding chlorine-washed chicken and other controversial products have been rife in the public ever since a potential trade deal with the US was touted back in 2017 by then International Trade Secretary Liam Fox.

Mr Fell has made it clear that the Government would not water down their standards when it came to food hygiene.

“The government has been absolutely clear that there will be no watering down of our food or environmental standards when negotiating new trade deals," he said.

“We can’t impose our standards on other countries but we can chose not to import items that don’t meet our own, including chlorinated chicken.

“I personally asked the Trade Secretary about this issue in the House of Commons last week and she confirmed the point.

“There will be huge benefits to Cumbria and the UK to opening up new trade routes - we can do this without compromising our food quality.”

Chlorine washing has been said to make it impossible to detect the bacteria in the lab, giving the false impression that the bacteria has been killed when it has not.

This means chlorine-washed chicken could still carry salmonella and other bacteria, which is a clear human health risk.

Washing chicken in chlorine and other disinfectants to remove harmful bacteria was a practice banned by the European Union (EU) in 1997 over food safety concerns.

The EU blocked trade deals with the US at the time because it is a common farming method for them.

According to a poll carried out for consumer group Which? of more than 2,000 people, 74 per cent of those questioned are opposed to imports of lower quality food coming as part of a UK-US trade deal.