The government’s Australia deal could lead to a similar trade pact with South America, where tropical forests are increasingly being razed for intensive farming, driving the climate crisis, environmentalists fear.

And ministers say the government’s trade deal with Australia will boost UK attempts to join the CPTPP trade alliance, which covers Pacific nations from Japan to Mexico.

The Animal Equality organisation said a South America deal would “trigger further deforestation, put greater pressure on Brazilian biodiversity, and create an increased likelihood of zoonotic diseases arising and a significant reduction in the standards of imported products into Europe”.

Claire Bass, executive director of Humane Society International/UK, said intensive farming practices in south and central America risked creating new diseases, and warned that any UK deal would go against the standards the public wanted.

“Any trade policy that allows the import of animal products that do not comport to the animal welfare policies of the UK and EU simply prop up an industry that the public has already firmly rejected, and further undermine the science behind those decisions.”.

A spokesperson for the Trade and Animal Welfare Coalition, part of the Eurogroup for Animals, said: “The UK should be using its trade policy to promote better welfare internationally, not to further incentivise or outsource lower welfare and unsustainable production systems in other parts of the world, impacting wild animals as well.”

A government spokesperson said: “In all of our trade negotiations, we will not compromise on our high environmental protection, animal welfare and food standards,” the wording contained in the Conservatives’ manifesto