[user104658]

Originally Posted by Cherie

The advice is never to wash chicken before cooking

The reason for that, though, is that it invariably leads to "splashback" spreading the bacteria from raw chicken to the sink area / any nearby dishes or cutlery and that's where contamination occurs whereas if chicken is in date and properly cooked through there shouldn't really be any risk of food poisoning. Although a lot of people undercook chicken.

As you know Cherie I'm firmly anti-Brexit but I think this particular issue is a red herring; I have some concerns about American farming METHODS such as overuse of pesticide / use of pesticides banned here but that's an environmental concern. I honestly don't think there's anything at all wrong with the quality of US produced fresh food. The American health crisis (just like our own) is down to what's done with those products afterwards... i.e. their processed foods, which are full of vast quantities of high fructose corn syrup, MSG, hydrogenated fats and other chemical additives. That "extra-specially fat American" image that you see, that seems to be far less common across the rest of the world, is largely down to snacks full of corn syrup and hydrogenated fats being widely available and very cheap.