7. American chicken
It’s not so much the chickens that are the problem here, it’s the way they’re prepared. In the US, it’s common practice to wash chickens in chlorine to remove harmful bacteria. In the EU, however, the use of chlorine and other disinfectants used for washing poultry has been banned since 1997. This was to ensure that food hygiene standards were consistently high throughout the farming and production processes. The ban is still in place, meaning that US chicken can’t be imported into the European Union.
6. Ketchup
Ketchup has been at the centre of plenty of food controversies over the years. France once banned it from primary school meals, while in the UK two Premier League football managers banned it in club canteens. Perhaps the highest profile international ruckus, however, was when Israel ruled that Heinz had to label its ketchup as ‘tomato seasoning’ because it doesn’t contain enough tomatoes to be called ketchup.
5. M&M’s
M&M’s are one of the world’s most recognisable sweets, with entire shops dedicated to selling related merchandise. But in 2016, M&M’s lost a long trademark battle with the Swedish chocolate-covered peanut brand Marabou. It meant it could no longer use the lowercase ‘m&m’ lettering on its packaging, effectively banning the sweets from being sold. All was not lost for Swedish fans of the multi-coloured candy, though, as M&M’s have been spotted in Sweden – with capital letters on the packaging.
