The Express lies about milk jugs

The Express had two eye-catching 'political correctness gone mad' stories on its front page today:


Anton covered the taxi driver one (as reported by the Mail) yesterday.

So let's look at what the 'Euro meddlers' are up to now.

As it turns out, err, nothing.

Here's what the Express originally ran:


Yet clicking that link reveals the article has been removed. Why? Because the EU didn't 'spout off' about, or 'call to ban', anything, and there were no rulings by 'Euro meddlers'.

As the re-written article makes clear, it's solely about a team of researchers from the University of Valencia who:

found that up to a third of milk and dairy products served up in bars, restaurants and cafes breached EU health regulations and was not fit for human consumption.

Is that it? Well, the researchers did say milk jugs increased the risk of contamination but that's about it.

Indeed, the EU in the UK blogged about the story, saying there was 'absolutely no basis' for it, adding:

The Commission fully supports the advice of the UK’s Food Standards Agency: milk jugs that are clean and stored appropriately before and after filling are totally in line with EU legislation.

So the actual story is: one-third of the milk served in Spanish restaurants exceeds contamination limits, say academic researchers.

The 'World's Greatest Newspaper' turns that into: EU wants to ban the British milk jug.

It's another clear example of what Editor Peter Hill called the 'vastly improved...standards of writing' at the Express.