IT MAY not have the elegant cachet of champagne or the gourmet kudos of Parma ham, but Scotland's butchers are calling for the humble staple of the Scottish cooked breakfast, the Lorne sausage, to be afforded the same protection those delicacies enjoy against imitators.
Campaigners want the square sausage to be added to the list of foods with Protected Geographical Indication (PGI), which means it could only bear the name if made in Scotland to an agreed recipe.
The same EU legislation is used to ensure the authenticity of Stilton cheese, Arbroath smokies and Melton Mowbray pork pies, and prevents similar products made elsewhere from cashing in on the name.
How to make your own Lorne Sausage
A PGI does not mean, however, that ingredients used in the manufacture of the food have to come from the region.
Douglas Scott, chief executive of Scotland's Craft Butchers, said: "The Lorne sausage is as Scottish a product as you get and it would seem a threat in this global era if we weren't to apply for a PGI.
"Lorne is an important part of every Scottish butcher's sausage trade with customers sometimes travelling many miles to source their favourite.
"We will work on the application and hope to get the backing of Quality Meat Scotland and the Scottish Government in taking the square slice to Brussels."
Though still very popular among Scots, typically eaten in a roll or with a full cooked breakfast, the origins of the square sausage's name are unclear.
One school of thought is that it is named after the Glasgow comedian Tommy Lorne. The theatre performer, who died in 1935, was famous for his catchphrase "sausages are the boys".
It has even been suggested that the comedian invented Lorne after realising the flat sausage made a better sandwich.
Others, however, claim it takes its name from the area of the Firth of Lorn on the west coast.
The Scottish Government and promotion agency Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) are both supportive, as are butchers across the country.
QMS's head of marketing Laurent Vernet welcomed the bid, saying Scotland failed to make full use of the PGI scheme to protect its unique foods.
He added: "I think in Scotland we have a slight inferiority complex about our food. But our produce is worth protecting.
"You just have to look at the list of PGI-listed foods Portugal has – some are very obscure and not known outside the country."
Mr Vernet said that it would take at least three years for the EU to decide on any PGI application, as long as everything goes smoothly, but that it was worth the effort.
Stornoway black pudding, another Scots product, is also bidding to secure PGI status.
PGI protection can bring new problems for old products
INTRODUCED in 1992, Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) have seen some of the most famous drinks and foods afforded protection: sparkling wines from France's Champagne region have naturally received the protection against other bottles of fizz using their title, while Melton Mowbray pork pie producers have ensured that if the pie is not baked in their county then it cannot legally take the title.
However, though Cheddar may take its name from the picturesque Somerset gorge, a proliferation of cheeses carry the same title.
Thus, the "Cheddar" name is not protected but the more geographically specific name "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar" is.
Also, the village of Stilton cannot produce the cheese that bears its name as it does not fall within the three counties that hold the PGI for it.
And while the title brings kudos, PGI status can also be a poisoned chalice.
Newcastle Brown Ale gained the title that meant the beer had to be brewed in the northern city to qualify for the title.
However, in 2004, the brewery decided to move across the river Tyne to Gateshead, technically a separate town, thus disqualifying it from the original geographic qualification. The brewery was forced to apply for the PGI status to be revoked to avoid the embarrassment of removing the word "Newcastle" from the beer's labels.
