British and Australian Twitter users have accused the US grocery chain Trader Joe’s of culinary plagiarism after it trumpeted the sale of “puff dogs”, also known as sausage rolls, online.

The item was launched by the chain this month and promoted as a groundbreaking “genius” marriage of sausage and puff pastry.



But Australians and Britons recognised the snack as the traditional and immensely popular sausage roll, a staple of school canteens, bakeries and takeaways.

Hahahahha.



The Americans think they have invented something called a Puff Dog.



A. It's a SAUSAGE ROLL and

B. That's a shit name. pic.twitter.com/ggkVR35qXo — Matt White (@mattyfwhite) June 24, 2017

PUFF DOG IM SCREAMIN pic.twitter.com/AD50jPoszf — DJ SagePay (@DJSagePay) June 27, 2017

The Trader Joe’s website attempts to trace the puff dog’s line of succession back to American roots, describing it as “a more interesting hot dog”.

“With warm weather rolling in (think: BBQs, pool parties, etc), we figured now is as good a time as any to officially declare Hot Dog Season,” it says. “Hot dogs are, of course, typically served on a bun [but] Trader Joe’s Puff Dogs takes this classic dog-meets-dough pairing to the next level ... this marriage of beefy and buttery is pretty genius.”

But, on social media, users were quick to cry theft.

“Sorry Trader Joe’s, your ‘puff dog’ been made by my local baker for 15 years,” said one.



“Not only is the name stupid ... but the fact Americans think they invented this new snack is worse,” said another.

In 2016, the British bakery chain Greggs sold 2.5m sausage rolls a week and operated 1,698 stores – more than McDonald’s or Starbucks.



Other users argued the puff dog was a development on the American “pigs in blankets”, which feature sausages encased in hard pastry.