In the food business, you get used to reading the small print. Ingredients lists, nutritional tables, allergen warnings – they’re not just legal tick-boxes, they also reflect a company’s ethos. And in the UK, shoppers trust that those labels are backed by some of the world’s toughest rules.
Having spent the past year in California, I’ve had a front-row seat to just how different the system looks across the Atlantic. Take Froot Loops, a cereal squarely targeted at children. The US version is packed with artificial dyes such as Red 40 and Yellow 5 – colourings linked to hyperactivity in children. The UK equivalent? Naturally tinted with beetroot and carrot extracts. And this isn’t an isolated example. Many US brands create cleaner ‘export’ recipes for us while selling cheaper, more artificial versions at home.
Until now, those products have had to reformulate to be sold here. But with new trade deals under discussion, that could change. US goods might soon land on UK shelves without having to meet our standards.
The differences run deep. In the US, additives, sweeteners, and genetically modified ingredients that are banned here are commonplace. Labelling rules are looser and often confusing. ‘Natural flavourings’, for example, can mask a cocktail of processed extracts. Meat standards are also very different to our own. US beef and pork can come from animals treated with growth hormones, or fed additives like ractopamine, which is banned in the UK. Poultry can be chlorine-washed to cover up less hygienic rearing conditions. Colouring agents are also permitted to make meat appear fresher than it really is. None of these practices meet our standards today – but they could creep in under looser trade rules.
Of course, freer trade with the US is often presented as a win for the UK, and American producers say they will comply with our standards. But this is a slippery slope. Unless we diligently enforce those rules, it only takes small concessions for harmful practices to seep into the market — and with them, the erosion of the trust UK consumers place in food businesses.
If imported products bypass our rules, they undercut not just on price but on principle – eroding the trust British producers work hard to earn. And for small, ethical brands, it will become an even tougher market in which to fight.
Food isn’t just calories and cost. It’s health, sustainability and trust. Lower the bar on ingredients and labelling, and all three are at risk. Bit by bit, we risk sliding into a market like the US – one where consumers no longer know what they can rely on. Shoppers need a strong baseline: no unnecessary additives, no hidden hormones, no misleading claims.
The UK’s food standards are something to be proud of. They protect our health, safeguard our farmers, and ensure a level playing field. Let’s make sure they’re not negotiated away.
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