Scots bid to overturn US ban on haggis

A delegation from the US government has been invited to visit Scotland in the hope of overturning America’s 40-year ban on haggis.

The Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs secretary, Richard Lockhead, sent the invitation just days before the traditional celebration of Burns Night, at which haggis suppers are held in honour of Scotland’s famous poet Rabbie Burns.

The traditional meat and oatmeal dish encased in a sheep’s stomach was banned by US food standard authorities whose laws prohibit sheep’s’ lungs in food products, a ban reinforced in 1989 after the BSE outbreak. Although most commercially available haggis nowadays is made with minced meat, the traditional ingredients are sheep’s hearts, liver and lungs mixed with oatmeal.

Although the ban on the export of British meat to the US was lifted long ago, the ban on haggis still stands, cutting Scottish food companies off from a huge export market.
According to Mr Lockhead, the US market could well be worth ‘millions’ to haggis manufacturers in Scotland as it has strong potential. He added the diaspora of Scots in the US would love sampling the authentic product along with their neeps and tatties on Burns Night.

Scotland’s produce, he stated, is of the highest standards and the invited officials from the US Department of Agriculture can inspect our facilites to see for themselves the care we take, right from animal health to the processing of products. Hopefully, this may persuade them to allow importing of haggis to resume, he said.

Well-known Edinburgh haggis-makers MacSween  told reporters the reversing of the US ban would have an enormous impact on Scottish producers. Director Jo MacSween said US visitors to Scotland loved the traditional dish and would be happy to both take several home with them and to buy haggis in their home towns. We’d love to do business with the States, as so many Scots emigrated their in past times and we have loads of fans of our haggises there already, she added.