The European Union has reportedly warned that the United Kingdom is at risk of being flooded with low-quality, cheaply-made food if it lowers its regulatory standards post Brexit. The warning essentially echoes the calls of the new child and animal welfare campaign supported by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

During crunch-round Brexit negotiations in Brussels for securing the country’s future security and trade relationship with the European Union, Charles Michel, the European Council President, stated that the UK government has to take a crucial decision with merely three months remaining of the transition period where the UK stays in the single market.

Michel, who is Belgium’s Ex-Prime Minister, further stated that the UK faces a dilemma in whether to break away from the European Standards.

Recently, a number of British celebrities such as chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, lifestyle coach Joe Wicks, and BBC presenter Anita Rani, backed by the RSPCA and RSPB started a campaign that demanded assurance from the government that low-standard meat products such as US-manufactured chlorinated chicken and hormone fed beef would not be served in British restaurants and workplaces or sold in British shops after the separation of the UK and the EU.

The alliance also claimed that because of the current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic, the stakes have been raised and now it is important, more than ever, to make sure that people have access to good quality, affordable, and sustainable food to effectively help them lead a happier, healthier, and more resilient lifestyle.

Chief Negotiator for the UK, David Frost, and his team would renew negotiations with Michel Barnier leading the European Union side, with the apparent problem of creating a “level playing field”, in terms of the environment, food, and work standards for both British and European businesses, being at tom of the agenda.

The European Union is looking for assurances of non-recessions from existing standards while also ensuring that both sides have that mechanisms that would help them raise these standards in tandem in future.

Source credit: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/sep/28/brexit-uk-risks-being-flooded-with-cheaply-produced-food-eu-warns