A group of influential MPs has called on the Government to enshrine commitments to upholding food standards in law. Tom Allen-Stevens reports.
Members of the cross-party EFRA Committee have tabled an amendment to the Agriculture Bill.
The move follows a Committee hearing with representatives from the agriculture, animal welfare and trade sectors, in which MPs took evidence on how the UK can ensure that imports under new trade agreements are produced to the high animal welfare and environmental standards they said are expected by the public.
The amendment, reiterating the points made in a 2018 EFRA Committee report on the Agriculture Bill, will ensure that food products imported as part of any future trade deal meet or exceed British standards relating to production, animal welfare and the environment.
EFRA Select Committee chairman Neil Parish.
“British consumers rightfully expect that the food we eat is produced to very high standards,” said Chair of the EFRA Committee, Neil Parish.
“The evidence the Committee heard this week highlighted that the negotiation of new free trade deals present exciting opportunities to uphold and even boost our high production standards, but the Government must ensure that consumer preferences for environmentally-friendly and humanely produced foods are respected.
“Lowering food production standards should not be a bargaining chip to be used in future trade deals – allowing imports to be produced in ways that are illegal here would severely undercut British farmers,” he added.
