U.S. Debates Whether to Lift Ban on Scottish Haggis

by Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Posted Feb 3rd 2010 @ 9:30AM

The U.S. government is reconsidering its ban on Scotland's national dish haggis.

The Department of Agriculture has shot down rumors that the sausage – made by rolling the cooked innards of a sheep (its heart, liver and lungs) in oats and pepper, then stuffing it in cow's intestine and boiling it – will be allowed in the United States any time soon.

The Scottish delicacy has been barred from this country since the late '80s mad cow outbreak in the U.K.

At the request of Scottish officials, the USDA is reviewing the risks of the dish and the ban on it, according to The Associated Press.

USDA spokeswoman Lindsay Cole issued a statement saying reports that the ban will be lifted are incorrect and though the latest science is being examined, no timetable has been set for a decision.

Haggis is getting another look in this country because Scottish Rural Affairs minister Richard Lochhead asked U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to clarify the government's embargo, the AP reported.

"We want to allow American consumers to sample our world renowned national dish," said Lochhead. "They should be assured Scotland has an excellent reputation in animal disease surveillance and prevention."

Scottish haggis producers are happy at the prospect that it might be allowed in the U.S. after all these years.

"This is long overdue and I'm glad the U.S. authorities are coming to their senses," master butcher Neil Watt of Watt the Butcher in Montrose, Scotland, told the AP. "The haggis you get in the States does not taste like proper haggis."

Jo Macsween, director of Macsween's Haggis in Edinburgh, believes removing the U.S. ban would be good for business and says Americans who visit Scotland are "eager to try" the national dish.

"We believe there is a big market to be tapped," he told the AP. "Once [Americans] have tasted it, they generally love it and become enthusiasts."

At least one American isn't enthused about haggis. Former President George W. Bush told the AP he had no desire to try the sausage at the 2005 G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.

"I was briefed on haggis," he said.

Filed Under: Food News
Tags: haggis, haggis illegal, haggis not coming to united states, haggis still illegal, scottish haggis

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Reader comments (Page 2 of 2)

2-03-2010 @4:15PM otrpu said... You can bet no matter what the government decides we'll be lucky to live to regret it. Every decision this government makes turns out to be wrong in the long run.
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2-03-2010 @5:24PM dr.sausage said... AL SHRADER ,CONOS STATU? WE THE BORICUAS ALSO HAVE SHILELAG WITH KNOBS ON IT .WE CALL IT "LA MACETA".KARA MEHERGUT.
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2-03-2010 @5:30PM k dog said... Our founding fathers would sh-t if they knew the extent and deep reach that government currently has over us....... More new laws on the books every year !
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2-03-2010 @5:45PM jeff said... I'll pass thanks.
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2-03-2010 @6:08PM T-Dogg said... Never heard of haggis before, but being a true carnivore I'll give it a go. Hell, I eat a pig's ass if it's cooked right.
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2-03-2010 @6:14PM Jeff said... You people bitchin' about haggis are a bunch of faggis.
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2-03-2010 @6:36PM Brig said... I'm scot by decent. I can truely say that no one has died from eating Haggis because anyone brave enough to eat haggis has a cast iron stomach and constitution to begin with. It is definitely an aquired taste; which most native born scots have.
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2-03-2010 @6:40PM Cailindana said... Haggis is amazing! I hope the ban is lifted! Bring on the real haggis so I dont have to get it in a can anymore!!
:o)
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2-03-2010 @6:53PM Samantha said... We eat Haggis at the traditional Robert Burns Night parties to honour the poet laureate of Scotland. Scots and those of us Americans of Scottish descent enjoy the traditional food. My husband, a "nice Jewish boy from NY" (his self-description!), declared he would NEVER try the Haggis. When he was finally persuaded to do so, he finished the entire plate of it saying that it was like his mom's best liver dish, only spicer. Now he looks forward to it. We took my mother-in-law to a Burns Night ceili (party...say "KAY-lee"), and she also loved the Haggis. Haggis developed as a nutritious "poor folks'" food in Scotland. The wealthy Lairds (lords) took all the best parts of the sheep, and left the offal. Scots are known for their ingenuity and frugalness, and they found a way to make this palatable. Oats were plentiful and to extend the small amounts of meat, they were mixed in. Whiskey was also added, and whatever spices were to hand. Mostly spices were too costly for the poor people to buy, so whiskey, (uisge beatha, or water of life, originally pronounced "wisg-veethe" and much later on "wisk-ee") was distilled by all and so was available for flavouring. Robert Burns wrote a wonderful, tongue-in-cheek "Ode to A Haggis", which is read after the Haggis is carried into the ceili in stye. European standards and eating habits are much healthier and safer than ours are. Let that Haggis in. I'll enjoy mine with Glen Fiddich. Slainte' Mhath! (Slawn-cha Var)
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2-03-2010 @7:05PM LPStarChaser said... George W. Bush relied on briefings rather than the evidence of his own senses. He should have taken the "briefing" with a "grain of salt" and tried the haggis. He might have had an epiphany over tha fact you cannot necessarily trust someone else's prejudiced word just because they "briefed" you.

I would love to try haggis, as it sounds like something the common people would eat. The good fresh meat foes to the "Laird's Table" and the remains goes to the locals.

Reminds me of a tale of my hard-of-hearing mother (bless her soul). We were shopping in a supermarket, at the aisle that would have packages of tripe and tongue, livers and tails. I asked my mother if she had any recipe's for this particular item she had told me about ages before. She responded, "Oh, brains! I haven't had them in a very long time!" It took half a dozen repeats before she realized how it sounded.
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2-03-2010 @7:25PM Mike said... Good for the Scottish!

I personally wouldn't eat it, but, hey, this is America. One man's garbage is another man's delicacy.
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2-03-2010 @7:39PM Mingo said... The food police will decide on what they want us to eat
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2-03-2010 @7:59PM Stanley said... Instead of banning Scottish sausage, how about banning all the unhealthy foods produced right here in the USA. Oh yeah, then we Americans wouldn't have anything to eat. As for those of you who put down McDonalds, get away from my hamburger. If you don't like McDonald's, don't eat there. Who said the government makes any sense anyway. One of the first things Obama did in office was to punish people who smoke, which affects more poor families than anyone else. But I suppose Obama can afford it. According to all the statistics, obesity is a much bigger problem than smoking, but look what happened when Obama tried to raise taxes on soft drinks, which are a major culprit in obesity. Using a cell phone while driving is said to be as bad as drinking and driving, but Americans still demonize drinking drivers but not cell phone users. When the hypocrisy ends, perhaps then we can enjoy some Haggis.
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2-04-2010 @3:28AM shjacks45 said... 1.) Haggis may contain meat by products that some may find objectionable. (Beef hearts are added to soy containing fast food hamburgers to make them taste beefier.) However none of the ingredients listed in Haggis is known to transmit mad cow disease.
2.) Mad Cow disease is caused by a "prion", a protein molecule that causes an animal or plant to create more of that protein and usually harms that animal or plant. It appears that the "mad cow" prion is the same in cows, sheep, goats and humans (Crutchfield-Jacobs Disease, transmitted by cannibals eating human brain tissue). It causes a dementia in humans, possibly an Alzheimers factor. Prions are not destroyed by cooking.
3.)The way mad cow disease is transmitted is by eating nerve tissue, spinal or brain. The practice of grinding up parts of the cow or sheep that can't be sold and using it to feed cows or sheep (and dog and cat food) is what causes that. For humans, the cuts of beef connected to the spine, e.g. ribs, neck bones, oxtails, are most contaminated. The documented and FDA allowed practices of slaughterhouses of taking "meat" that falls on the floor or "mechanically seperated beef" and putting it into hamburger mixes spinal and intestinal tissue into your McDonalds hamburger.
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