Farmers could cash in on chicken feet by increasing exports to China for business after Brexit, a farming minister has said.
George Eustice said there were opportunities to increase exports of the popular snack to China and other regions where parts of the bird often rejected by British shoppers are highly sought after.
Ministers have previously agreed a deal to export pigs’ trotters to China to increase access to new markets.
The comments came during a Commons debate led by DUP MP Ian Paisley (North Antrim) about the effect of Brexit on poultry producers.
Mr Eustice told MPs: “It never ceases to amaze me that chicken feet are a delicacy in China and can attract a high value, far, far higher than they can get here in the UK.
“But there are real opportunities to create value from parts of the carcase for which there is no market in the UK or indeed in Europe.
“The other point I would make is there has always been quite a worldwide trade in poultry because we consume more white poultry meat than we produce, so we import white poultry meat traditionally but we have also had to export dark poultry meat which is in demand in other parts of the world.”
Mr Paisley also raised concerns about a cap on the number of migrant workers on the industry and called for a frictionless border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to prevent problems with movement of poultry.