CONSUMER GROUP Which? has warned that a free trade deal with the United State could pose 'the greatest risk to food safety since the mad cow disease crisis'.

The body has written to UK Trade Secretary Liz Truss raising concerns that the Westminster government has changed its stance on animal welfare and food safety in order to strike a US trade deal.

Ms Truss and her department are about to enter a second round of trade talks with the US, and after Conservative MPs were whipped to vote against an Agriculture Bill amendment that would have created an outright ban on food imports that don't meet UK standards, there is concern that UK ministers are now considering proposals to allow in some of these products.

Which? research found that 72% of the British public did not want products such as chlorine-washed chicken and hormone-fed beef to be allowed on sale in the UK at all, labelled or not.

Sue Davies, head of consumer protection and food policy at Which? said: "We're very concerned that the government seems to be backtracking on its commitments."

Commenting, SNP shadow trade spokesperson Stewart Hosie MP said: “It’s becoming clearer with each round of talks with our US counterparts that the UK government is moving towards abandoning the high food standards currently in place in order to secure a bottom of the barrel trade deal with Donald Trump.

“Rather than safeguarding our world-leading food and farming sector and protecting consumers, the UK government is preparing to sell them out for a post-Brexit trade deal that will inflict untold damage on the industry, and flood the food market with low quality produce."