In the UK the issue of controversial US food products being allowed into our markets under a proposed trade deal has sparked a petition that has garnered nearly a million signatures.

Now the Manx NFU want to bring it to the attention of the public here.

’We’re not against people having choice but it’s only fair that they know what they are buying,’ says Tim Johnston, president of the Manx NFU.

In May, senior Tory MP Neil Parish tabled an amendment to the UK Government’s landmark Agriculture Bill which would have prevented future trade deals that allowed food into the UK which was not produced to the equivalent standards required of farmers and processors in Britain.

It was defeated by 328 votes to 277, despite 22 Conservative MPs supporting the amendment.

Tim explains: ’The Manx NFU fears that, if the UK Agriculture Bill passes in its current form and the trade deals go ahead, the Manx public will be eating food that has been declared illegal to produce in the Isle of Man.

’At the moment, the rules are in place right through the EU so that we know what’s in our food, especially processed food, such as frozen lasagne.

’We know that there won’t be hormone treated beef in it.

’Now we will potentially be consuming it but we won’t be aware of it because this beef won’t be sold packaged as steak or meat in the supermarkets, but blended into processed foods and ready meals where the country of origin labelling is either not required or not prominent on the packaging.

’Manx people won’t even know they are eating it, yet if our Manx farmers produced the same food to the same standards they would be in court facing serious animal welfare charges and would then be banned from ever keeping farm animals.

’They would also expect to receive very large fines and ultimately face a long spell in prison because Tynwald has legislated that producing to anything lower than our absolute minimum standards is illegal.

’In the US their systems of farming allow cattle to be finished in massive feed lots, given hormones and fed on maize with not a blade of grass in front of them. It’s not that we should do it or would ever want to do it. You would end up with a race to the bottom and our grass-based system negates the need to use this [hormones].

’But it does allows US farmers to produce a cheaper product that undermines Manx farmers.’

’We appreciate that, especially after Covid, incomes are going to be difficult but it’s important that people know what they are eating. That pressure is best coming from the consumers.

’We need to establish what’s fair and sensible to be on the label.

Manx farmers all work within the UK’s Red Tractor standard and EU standards, which ban practices such as using hormones to fatten beef or chlorine washing chicken.

Tim goes on: ’Anything that leaves the Isle of Man is all produced to the highest standards in the world and it’s only right that anything coming here should be the same.’

’We’re not against people having choice but it’s only fair that they know what they are buying.’

What might be coming our way

In the USA, according to the BBC, 80% of beef cattle receive hormone supplements, implanted under their skin. A US congressional report puts the figure at 90% of feedlot cattle.

The use of all hormones on farm animals is banned in the EU and the Isle of Man for health reasons.

There are six hormones predominantly used in US agriculture, one of which is judged to be a significant cancer risk, including estradiol, testosterone and progesterone.

They serve no health or welfare purpose but are used to increase productivity through faster weight gain which allows them to produce a cheaper product.

A new trade deal, under different rules from those governing our current trade within the EU, there is a serious risk of these dangerous synthetic hormones entering our food supply.

Consumers could be left in the dark about the cancer-linked hormones seeping into our diet, along with chlorinated chicken meat.

Then there are the antibiotics: animals kept in crowded feed lots may gain weight much faster but they are also far more likely to catch and spread infection than those that spend their time grazing out in the fields.

Tim says: ’The use of antibiotics in US farming to treat sick animals is more than five times higher than in UK production and almost six times higher than in Manx production.

’Their overuse across the industry in the USA is contributing to the public health crisis of rising resistant infections and a lack of effective antibiotics to treat people.’

What the Manx NFU wants

Tim says: ’We’re not advocating or even thinking it would be sensible to try and ban imports.

’We are proposing achievable actions whilst understanding we can’t remove the freedom of choice from the consumer.

’We are not proposing bans on the imports of food produced to standards that would be illegal to produce in the Isle of Man.

’This would risk our trading ability with the UK and the rest of the world that we rely on to sell our own agricultural and fisheries products.

’What we want is labelling that properly informs and protects our local consumers and gives them the knowledge they need to make their own choices about what they buy.

’Sensible labelling doesn’t take away people’s choice: it’s not being protectionist.’

It’s also an animal welfare issue

Tim says: ’The greatest difference between the British and US systems of farming is their attitudes to animal welfare.

The UK has legally recognised the sentience of farm animals since 1875 when the first regulations were introduced to govern slaughterhouses.

’In the US there is a general resistance to even acknowledging the existence of sentience in farm animals which is quite extraordinary and legislation on animal welfare is woefully deficient.

’As far as on-farm welfare legislation is concerned, there is virtually nothing at all at a federal level and only weak and patchy animal welfare regulations at a state level, predominantly in the West Coast states.

’The UK has some of the highest standards of animal welfare in the world and has driven improvements in other European countries that have traditionally lagged behind.

’The Isle of Man is fully compliant, mirroring all UK standards and legislation, and in some cases far exceeding them.’