Jamie Oliver has shown his support for a National Farmer's Union petition, urging the government to maintain UK food standards on imports.
The celebrity chef has joined the fight to maintain food standards, after government ministers voted down an amendment to maintain British standards on food imports.
Posting on his Instagram channel recently, Jamie Oliver urged listeners to get involved with the food standards petition, saying: "there is a bill going through (parliament) at the moment that's really important to you and your health.
"A couple of weeks ago Boris Johnson whipped all of his ministers to vote down an amendment to basically maintain British standards on all future trade deals and imports.
"This is inconstant with what the government has been talking about in the past, which leads me to believe that they want to clear the decks and snap grab trade deals."
The chef is urging everyone to sign a petition, launched in England by the National Farmer's Union, which is asking the UK government to ensure all food imports are produced to the same high standards as British farmers.
To view and sign the petition, which has over 127,000 signatures so far, please click here.
He went to to say that this is "probably the most important thing that I have ever done".
https://www.instagram.com/p/CA2Q1tmg821/
The chef also had an open letter to Boris Johnson published in the Mail on Sunday, which has been campaigning to save family farms.
In the letter, Oliver says: "I write this letter because I believe you’re about to seriously undermine public health and unpick the delicate patchwork quilt of farmers and food producers who are the backbone of this country.
"While we’ve all been focused on the fallout from this dreadful pandemic, most people reading this probably won’t know that you’ve whipped your MPs to vote down the Agriculture Bill amendments that would have maintained British food and animal welfare standards for future trade deals and imports.
"We could be about to open the floodgates to a whole raft of low-quality food that would normally be illegal in the UK. Chlorinated chicken is just the tip of the iceberg. We’re talking about genetically modified food, stuffing animals full of hormones and antibiotics, banned pesticides that kill our bees, and an avalanche of foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar.
"What’s more, we’ll be threatening the future of our farmers and food producers who, despite extraordinary challenges, have worked so hard to keep us fed throughout the Covid-19 crisis."
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