'Dragon' sausages burnt by trade laws

Times Online ^ | November 18, 2006 | Simon de Bruxelles

[JTN]

A SPICY sausage known as the Welsh Dragon will have to be renamed after trading standards’ officers warned manufacturers that they could face prosecution because it does not contain dragon.

The sausages will now have to be labelled Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages to avoid any confusion among customers.

Jon Carthew, 45, who makes the sausages, said yesterday that he had not received any complaints about the absence of real dragon meat. He said: “I don’t think any of our customers believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages. We use the word because the dragon is synonymous with Wales.”

His company, the Black Mountains Smokery at Crickhowell, in Powys, turns out 200,000 sausages a year, including the Welsh Dragon, which is made with chilli, leek and pork. A Powys County Council spokesman said: “The product was not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food.”

[JTN]

At first I thought this might be a parody piece. Sadly, it isn't.

[JTN]

Ping

[lastchance]

Shades of this classic Monty Python Sketch

It says 'crunchy frog' quite clearly.

Praline: Well, the superintendent thought it was an almond whirl. People won't expect there to be a frog in there. They're bound to think it's some form of mock frog.

Milton: (insulted) Mock frog? We use no artificial preservatives or additives of any kind!

Praline: Nevertheless, I must warn you that in future you should delete the words 'crunchy frog', and replace them with the legend 'crunchy raw unboned real dead frog', if you want to avoid prosecution.

Milton: What about our sales?

[SolidWood]

What? Dragons don't exist!?

[Polybius]

What about hot dogs?

[fat city]

They should file for a variance under The Welsh Rarebit Exception provision of Welsh trade law.

[JTN]

Ha Ha! I found the story through this website. They were thinking the same thing.

[Criminal Number 18F]

I would have thought any ruling this stupid would have to have come from the Eurocrats, but no, this particular piece of idiocy is as Welsh as the sausages (and the dragon).

Next move, Chinese restaurants in the UK will have to post a disclaimer to the effect that General Gau's Chicken has never actually been in the possession of General Gau.

I always wondered what happened to Eric Idle after Monty Python. I guess he went into government....

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[Lokibob]

On ebay now...  REAL DRAGON

[Charlespg]

when bureaucrats run amok
Now folks isn't socialism grand /s

[4mycountry]

Speechless at the depths of human stupidity... again.

[Chode]

and there's NO HAM in hamburger either...

[PeterFinn]

I guess chocolate Turtles will have to have real turtles in them from now on, as well, eh?

[JTN]

Next move, Chinese restaurants in the UK will have to post a disclaimer to the effect that General Gau's Chicken has never actually been in the possession of General Gau.

I'm getting a little worried that someone is going to go after Jimmy Dean next.

[DaveyB]

Buffalo wings? Chicken Fingers? Microsoft works? All the deception out there is enough to make your head spin.

[Jeff Chandler]

Uh oh....

[Gondring]

And wasn't "General Tso" more of a statesman than a general?

[Gondring]

http://www.foodlion.com/images/foodlionlogo.gif

Yeah, it's definitely Food Dog, not a lion!

[Gondring]

It needs to have a hyphen between Welsh and dragon anyway...otherwise we might think it's dragon-pork! ;-)

[Gondring]

Praline: Nevertheless, I must warn you that in future you should delete the words 'crunchy frog', and replace them with the legend 'crunchy raw unboned real dead frog', if you want to avoid prosecution.

Anyone here remember...
Q: How would Commodore (or IBM) market sushi?
A: Cold, dead, raw fish