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Scots ask US to lift haggis ban
The BBC ^ | January 20, 2008

Posted on 01/20/2008 9:33:32 AM PST by Stoat

Scots ask US to lift haggis ban

 

Chef John Paul McLachlan poses with his prize haggis
Haggis, traditionally eaten on Burns night, is banned in the US
The Scottish Government is considering asking the United States to rethink its ban on haggis imports.

Imports of Scotland's iconic dish were banned by the US in 1989 in the wake of the BSE scare because it contains offal ingredients such as sheep lungs.

Only an offal-free version of haggis is available in the US.

The move would be backed by renowned haggis maker Macsween, which believes the American market could be a very lucrative one.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said it "will consider engaging the US government on its haggis export ban, if there is popular support for such a move from within our world famous haggis producers".

Expat Scots

Jo Macsween, a co-director of family company Macsween, said she hoped to see the ban overturned.

"The market is massive because there are so many expat Scots there and once Americans try a good quality haggis, they can't get enough of it," she added.

The dish, traditionally served with tatties and neeps on Burns' night, usually contains a sheeps lungs, liver and heart minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices and salt mixed with stock.

It is then boiled in the animal's stomach for around three hours.

A spokesman for the US Department of Agriculture said: "We do not allow importation because of the UK's BSE status."

We see no reason at all why people cannot eat haggis safely, so long as manufacturers follow hygiene legislation
 
Food Standards Agency

"Sheep are susceptible to TSE's and thus the US takes precautions on importing those ruminants from BSE-affected countries."

However, a spokesman for Britain's Food Standards Agency said: "We see no reason at all why people cannot eat haggis safely, so long as manufacturers follow hygiene legislation.

"We have the strictest BSE controls in the world."



TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: bse; burns; burnsnight; food; haggis; nausea; robertburns; scotland
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To: Rudder
Ever try "head cheese?"

No, but I had a store next to a German deli and you could smell it a mile away!

141 posted on 01/21/2008 9:19:49 AM PST by Churchillspirit
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To: Stoat

I almost ordered a haggis burger to see if they asked: “Want tatties with that?”


142 posted on 01/21/2008 9:32:35 AM PST by Bernard Marx
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To: Stoat

That is a nice video. I joined youtube just to save it.


143 posted on 01/21/2008 11:11:19 AM PST by yarddog (`)
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To: Stoat
“I take it that you are in the USA or Canada...”

San Antonio, Texas (which would also explain the flour tortillas).

http://www.scottishsociety-sa.org/

144 posted on 01/21/2008 7:32:25 PM PST by decal (Mother Nature and Real Life are conservatives - the Progs have never figured this out.)
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To: VOA
Baron von Bismark must have never heard of haggis. Otherwise he'd have said that those who like laws, sausage and haggis should never watch them being made!

Apparently haggis is a smelly process too.

145 posted on 01/21/2008 7:42:18 PM PST by sionnsar (trad-anglican.faithweb.com |Iran Azadi| 5yst3m 0wn3d - it's N0t Y0ur5 (SONY) | UN: Useless Nations)
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To: Grammy

Ewww. No haggis for me.


146 posted on 01/21/2008 7:43:08 PM PST by girlangler (Fish Fear Me)
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To: Stoat

Given the replies here, it seems that America’s the land of the free, home of the squeamish.


147 posted on 01/22/2008 6:16:58 AM PST by Andy Ross (A Scot in Trondheim)
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To: Andy Ross

Given the replies here, it seems that America’s the land of the free, home of the squeamish

All the more for the rest of us then.


148 posted on 01/22/2008 10:54:08 AM PST by MadMitch
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To: Andy Ross
Given the replies here, it seems that America’s the land of the free, home of the squeamish.

Using a similar yardstick, I suppose that a person from rural Korea could go to a UK or Scandinavian-based message board and start a thread on the benefits of eating dogs and cats, and when he gets twenty unfavorable replies make the judgment that the entire UK or all of Scandinavia is full of squeamish people, which would be equally ludicrous and false.

149 posted on 01/22/2008 11:23:11 AM PST by Stoat (Rice / Coulter 2012: Smart Ladies for a Strong America)
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