INVESTIGATION: Donald Trump's 'Food Deal' With U.K. Exposes 'Horrors' Inside U.S. Beef Set to Flood Britain's Supermarket Shelves
Donald Trump has signed a deal to stock British meat shelves.
May 15 2025, Published 4:30 p.m. ET
Officials in Britain are worried contaminated beef from the U.S. could soon be flooding their supermarket shelves, RadarOnline.com can report.
However, the same beef is widely produced stateside, and many of us eat it willingly every day.
Where's The Beef?
The U.S. will ship 13,000 tons of meat overseas.
A new trade deal agreed to by the two nations will see 13,000 tons of U.S. beef shipped to the U.K. – enough meat to serve one medium-sized steak to every adult in the country.
However, consumers overseas are fearful the much more leniently regulated U.S. beef will contaminate their supply.
A common practice in the U.S. is for farmers to raise hormone-treated beef. These cattle are injected with growth hormones to accelerate muscle growth and shorten the time to slaughter, thereby increasing production efficiency and reducing costs.
But the practice has been linked to concerns such as early puberty in children and increased cancer risks.
While the hormone beef is prevalent on our store shelves, Great Britain has banned it since 1989, when the EU declared it unsafe.
Beefing Up Profits
U.S. meat regulations are not as strict as the U.K.
According to the United States Cattlemen’s Association, about 80 per cent of all beef produced in the U.S. comes from animals fed growth boosting hormones.
These hormones result in more meat per animal and an overall more profitable product for the farmer.
However, an alarming report in the 1970s suggested that Italian schoolboys were developing breast tissue after allegedly being fed meat containing hormones.
Similar reports also linked the product to causing earlier than normal puberty in girls.
A 'Steak' In Their Future
Farmers in America often pump cattle full of growth hormones to maximize their profits.
The British government said certification procedures and border checks will be in place to make sure hormone-reared beef does not enter the UK.
However, the National Farmers' Union has demanded more details on how exactly those checks would work.
Ian McCubbine, a beef farmer in Surrey, told the BBC he was concerned about the prospect of American-grown beef coming into the country.
"How do we know what they are putting in?" he said. "We spent 50 years building an industry that is strong on environmental gain and animal welfare.
"The concern is that the US (beef imports) could be of lower quality."
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British officials promise there are checks in place to make sure hormone treated meat does not cross the border.
Liz Webster, founder of the group Save British Farming, echoed those fears in a post on X.
She tweeted: "In exchange for tariff relief on luxury cars, we've opened our doors to US beef and ethanol. But as our border checks are barely functioning, how we'll enforce standards is anyone's guess."
Yet experts in the US insist our meat is safe for human consumption – and British lawmakers are anxious to back that up and calm growing concerns.
Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: "Companies, whether in the United States or in other parts of the world, know that because of those food production standards, if they try to import hormone-treated meat, for example, that is in breach of the law.
"There are checks on these products at the border, and if people are in breach of the law, there will be consequences for that."
