Scottish Government Bid to End USA Haggis Ban

[cessna152towser]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-12259126
Scottish Government bid to end USA ban on real Scottish haggis.

[Tobus]

Now THIS is a political movement I could really get behind. And I think all of us could. It would be a good thing for those of us on both sides of the pond. Scottish haggis makers could be opened up to a new market for their products, and American consumers could enjoy an authentic haggis. What's not to love about this?

Is there any way we can help? Maybe a letter-writing campaign to the USDA to implore them to consider it? Letters to our Congress-critters?

[artificer]

The write-in campaign worked for congress' "let's get rid of non-pasteurized cheese" plan (which would have effectively banned most blue cheeses, real parmigiana, and a host of other 'non-crappy' cheeses).

Come ON, let's get us some real Scottish Haggis for next Burns Supper! I'll write to anyone I have to.

[Whidbey78]

I'm on board! If there's anything we can do I'll get in on it. I'm sure there is at least one person on the site who knows the ins and outs of regulations of this nature.

Considering what goes into jello and hotdogs I never could understand what the big deal was about some sheep innards that would bring about a ban on its sale. Of course, if you have a place to raise the critters you can make it yourself if you're inclined to do the work.

[BoldHighlander]

...just tell me where to sign!

[druid]

Call me a pessimist but I don't see it happening.

Not only for the reasons already stated in the article...

"Imported haggis was banned by the US because its food standards agency prohibits sheep lungs in food products."

and

"In addition to the sheep's lung ban, the US prohibited the use of offal from the UK in the wake of the BSE outbreak in 1989."


...there's no way to "sterilize" the organs in which the Haggis is contained. The FDA will never approve it.

Now....the US citizenry CAN serve "real" haggis but it must be made on the premises in which it's served but it may not contain sheep's lung.

As stated here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8480795.stm

[jhockin]

I recall, as a wee lad, there use to be a Scottish butcher shop, in downtown Vancouver.
Here is a brief article aboot it:
"James Inglis Reid died November 16, 1952. He was 78. His famous high-ceilinged butcher’s shop at 559 Granville, which had opened in 1915, was almost as famous for its signs as for the special meats and haggis it sold. The most celebrated sign read: “We hae meat that ye can eat.” The meats included Ayrshire bacon, Belfast ham, black pudding and oatmeal-coated sausage. The Scottish-born (Kirkintilloch) Reid had come to Vancouver in 1906, at 32. Another Scot, H. Nelson Menzies, joined him in 1917. Long service was a constant at Reid’s. When the shop closed in December 1986—forced out by Pacific Centre expansion—its manager, Gordon Wyness, had been there 41 years."
There is now a shop, in North Vancouver ( Blacks?- also a Scot), that is, apparently, the largest producer of Haggis, in BC.

[macwilkin]

Call me a pessimist but I don't see it happening.

Not only for the reasons already stated in the article...

"Imported haggis was banned by the US because its food standards agency prohibits sheep lungs in food products."

and

"In addition to the sheep's lung ban, the US prohibited the use of offal from the UK in the wake of the BSE outbreak in 1989."


...there's no way to "sterilize" the organs in which the Haggis is contained. The FDA will never approve it.

Now....the US citizenry CAN serve "real" haggis but it must be made on the premises in which it's served but it may not contain sheep's lung.

As stated here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8480795.stm

Perhaps if we could show a non-European origin to Haggis, then the Gods of the Copy-Book Headings might be more willing to lift the ban?

T.

[AFS1970]

Now I have never made my own haggis, but I saw an episode of bizarre foods where they were making them (not sure why it was on that show at all). All the meat was cooked prior to being ground together and mixed with the oatmeal. Wouldn't that cooking process in effect sterilize the lungs? I know that food only has to be kept above 140 degrees to be served here.

As an aside, on a science fiction forum I frequent we were discussing alien food as seen on TV. One dish was was a type of lung. A poster from the UK said that lungs were declared inedible in the UK too. Now I know she is in England, but I would think food regulations would be the same. Is this true or is it more British propaganda?

[Lallans]

Canada's one outbreak of foot and mouth disease, back in the '50s, was caused by someone bringing in an illegal sausage... since sheep are major carriers and there were the two agricultural holocausts in the UK so recently, F&M and BSE, I think the timing may still be considered a little premature.

Frankly I would rather eat native sheeps lungs if I had to- but I can't imagine them adding much to the haggis anyway. Even if they are still used in Britian, those could be left out for export.

BTW, cooking does nothing for BSE. It's built into the protein.