Originally Posted by
lhrsfo
The chlorine is, of course, entirely harmless, otherwise the EU wouldn't permit its use in bagged salads which aren't even going to be cooked. At the risk of straying into bad OMNI, the ban on chlorine washing of chicken was an entirely political move to protect the (principally French) poultry industry.
Perhaps we are saying the same thing, but I believe the main issue with chlorine rinsing is that leads to the (perhaps unintended) consequence that US abattoirs and the entire animal welfare/farm-to-table chain are of a considerably lower sanitary/hygiene standard than that required in the EU. The chlorine takes care of the problem so we don't have to worry about it.