Haggis fans step up fight to end US ban on Burns Night favourite
With Burns night just a few days away, campaigners are upping the ante in their bid to end a ban on haggis in America.
The traditional Scottish dish has been prohibited there since 1971, as human consumption of lungs in products is not allowed by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Boisdale, the restaurant whose Burns nights celebrations are a fixture of the City calendar, has led the charge to overturn the ban. It says it wants the eight per cent of Americans who claim Scottish heritage to be able to celebrate Burns Night in traditional fashion. Now campaign groups are adding their voices to support a law change, as the EU and US continue negotiations over a free trade deal.
Allie Renison from the Institute of Directors said: “The current US administration has adopted a gradual relaxation policy towards its longstanding ban on UK and European beef imports. It therefore follows suit to expect that the haggis ban could be lifted.”
Robert Oxley, of Business for Britain, called on ministers to “fight harder to overturn America’s haggis ban” and Kate Andrews, from the Adam Smith Institute, described the rule as “arbitrary” and “bureaucratic”.