Chlorinated chicken will NOT be sold in the UK, Michael Gove insists

31 January 2020, 09:06 | Updated: 31 January 2020, 09:26

Michael Gove has told LBC that chlorinated chicken will definitely not be sold in the UK after Brexit.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested yesterday that chlorinated chicken will be part of post-Brexit trade talks in his only UK broadcast interview on LBC.

Speaking to Iain Dale, Mr Pompeo said: "We need to make sure we don't use food safety as a ruse to try and protect a particular industry.

"And then we need to have hard conversations about the places we have opportunities to give and take and then deliver on outcomes that benefit the agricultural sector - and most importantly consumers who are going to be the net beneficiaries of these really good deals."

But Mr Gove, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, told LBC that animal welfare will be a red line in US-UK trade talks.

Revealing he has previously eaten chlorinated chicken, Mr Gove said: "I have concerns about animal welfare. The key thing about chlorinated chicken is not that it is unsafe, but that the chicken goes through the chlorine wash because in parts of America, they coop chickens up in a way which would not be allowed in Europe.

"In some cases, Britain and America are naturally aligned. One area where we are not is that we have very high standards of animal welfare."