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Meet Tom everyone, Tom doesn't know the difference between production cost (farm gate) and shop price. So lets talk about why he remains consistent in being wrong on so many subjects, a thread. /1 https://twitter.com/tomhfh/status/1310700518034100224
Lets take US chicken as an example, per KG its a few pence cheaper than chicken that meets UK standards for animal welfare, production standards and food safety. So what do US farmers do differently? 2/
Cheap US chicken isn't 'free range', the animal will spend its life in a warehouse, living in a lake of chicken faeces and surrounded by the corpses of its friends, often with wounds from being pecked due to overcrowding, this isn't exactly sanitary. 3/
So to get the chicken carcass through some lab tests to show it is 'clean' the chicken carcass is washed in a solution of chlorinated water. Problem is this doesn't kill the dangerous bacteria, many form protective cysts and can survive the process. 4/
But its cheaper cries @tomhfh ..... well, as it leaves the farm gate its cheaper by a few pence per KG, but you don't buy your chicken at the farm gate, its got to get to the supermarket which means a lengthy and costly journey. 5/
So the choices are fly it or send it by boat, flying is fast and expensive, and with the current decrease in flights due to Covid, cargo capacities are down so costs are even higher. Boats are slower and cheaper but you have to preserve the cargo 6/
And when it arrives the chicken has to pass through a customs border (remember Tom loves a hard border) and it faces checks, paperwork barriers, tariffs and other costs. So when you add in transport and trade barriers cheaper PRODUCTION doesn't translate to cheaper food. 7/
So what do we learn from this, apart from the fact @tomhfh knows nothing about trade or farming?
Well, we learn we can keep higher food standards in the UK and have cheaper food than imports from the US which are more expensive. But we also get a bonus, less people will die! 8/
Well, we learn we can keep higher food standards in the UK and have cheaper food than imports from the US which are more expensive. But we also get a bonus, less people will die! 8/
You can go to the CDC website and read about US food poisoning cases, in a typical year its 10 times higher than we see across Europe, why? Well, when you raise your chickens in poor conditions and infuse them with dangerous bacteria you increase the risk of food poisoning. 9/
So when @tomhfh is shilling for those Tufton Street think tanks on behalf of US farmers and to the detriment of UK farmers you have to ask why he is so anti animal welfare, anti British and unpatriotic?
Even cheap has a price, just ask Tom...... 10/
Even cheap has a price, just ask Tom...... 10/
