Scots Jump for Joy as US Plans to Lift Haggis Ban
Terence Neilan
Contributor
(Jan. 25) -- American Scots will have an added reason to send their kilts flying Monday as they celebrate the birthday of poet Robert Burns. After a 21-year ban, the U.S. is planning to allow imports of haggis, a traditional Scottish dish.
The ban was imposed in 1989, at the height of the mad cow disease outbreak in Britain, because haggis contains sheep heart, liver and lungs -- organs that are considered at risk for carrying scrapie, a close variant of mad cow.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Agriculture was quoted by London's Daily Telegraph as saying that it was reviewing its regulations in line with a ruling from the World Organization for Animal Health that sheep lung is safe.
"At this time, there are regulations being drafted,'' the spokeswoman said.
Monday's timing couldn't be better for Scots, because Burns, famous for such poems and songs as "Auld Lang Syne" and "A Man's a Man for A' That," also penned "Address to a Haggis" in 1787.
Since the ban was enforced, Americans of Scottish descent -- of whom there are estimated to be more than 9 million -- have been forced to celebrate Burns Night without real haggis.
"It was a silly ban, which meant that a lot of people have never tasted the real thing," Margaret Frost, of the Scottish American Society in Ohio, told the Guardian. "We have had to put up with the U.S. version, which is made from beef and is bloody awful."
Scotland's rural affairs secretary, Richard Lochhead, said, "I am greatly encouraged to hear that the U.S. authorities are planning a review of the unfair ban on haggis imports. We are in regular contact with the industry on this issue and believe that reversing the ban would deliver a vote of confidence in Scottish producers and allow American consumers to sample our world-renowned national dish."
He added, "It's time for the U.S. authorities to deliver a Burns Night boost and recognize that Scottish haggis is outstanding quality produce."
Sales of haggis in the U.K. brought in the equivalent of more than $14 million last year, the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth.
Jo Macsween, co-director of Macsween, a leading producer of the product in Edinburgh, said the U.S. Agriculture Department's action would come as good news to both tourists in Scotland and Scots in the U.S.
"I'm very excited by this news,'' she told the BBC. "In my experience, when I have encountered American tourists in Scotland they absolutely loved it. ... So they will be delighted that next time they come to visit they can not only take it back but hopefully manufacturers like us will actually start shipping it there too."
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