For nearly 45 years, any Scottish emigré living in the US who wanted to eat a traditionally produced haggis on Burns Night had to resort to cross-border smuggling or a long flight home. But now their wait may be over: the US agriculture authorities have begun the process of ending a longstanding ban on Scotch lamb.



After years of campaigning and fruitless lobbying trips to Washington by successive ministers – including the former first minister Alex Salmond – Richard Lochhead, the Scottish agriculture secretary, believes he has finally cracked it.

After talks with US agriculture officials in Washington, which ended late on Thursday night, Lochhead predicts that draft rules on lifting the ban on imports of Scotch lamb will be published next year and become law in 2017.



“Getting back into the US market in 2017 would unlock a huge market and millions of pounds of business for our Scotch lamb and haggis producers,” Lochhead said.



However, a US Department of Agriculture spokesperson said that while they discussed these regulations and are “drafting a proposed rule to address ovine (sheep) and caprine (goat) products”, they “can’t estimate when that rule will be finalized”.

Haggis imports stopped in 1971 when the US introduced a ban on sheep lungs, one of the ingredients of authentic haggis. Imports of all UK beef and lamb were stopped in 1989 in after the BSE outbreak, so millions of Americans who celebrate Burns Night each January have had to rely on inferior local haggis.

Lochhead conceded that the recipe would have to be altered, because the US did not plan to lift the ban on sheep lungs.

“Sheep lungs cannot enter the US as a human food because FSIS has determined that such material made from sheep slaughtered in the United States is inedible and is not inspected for use as an edible material,” a USDA spokesperson said. “Sheep lung material from foreign inspection systems likewise are not permitted for human consumption in the United States.”

Lochhead said that the US animal and plant health inspection service told his delegation that it plans to publish draft rules in 2016 setting out how the lamb ban would be lifted.

“There are 60 days to comment at that point and then they respond to comments and publish final rules in following months,” he said. “Lamb lungs will still be banned but haggis does not need that part of the sheep as heart, kidneys etc [are] acceptable for recipes, most producers would agree.”

However, Lochhead’s confidence could prove to be another false dawn. In January 2010 he believed the US was about to lift the ban – but hopes were dashed and the policy remained in force.

There are apocryphal tales of Scots smuggling a tightly sealed sheep’s bladder in their luggage through customs at US airports, risking arrest, seizure and deportation.

“We know that around 10 million US citizens claim Scottish heritage so we have a ready-made market with them, and with Scots at heart,” Lochhead said. “Of course exports to the US will also be a real boost for producers and farmers and benefit our economy.”

The minister said the verbal undertaking emerged during talks with Lisa Mensah, an undersecretary in the US Department of Agriculture, and Aphis. Lochhead arrived with a posse of Scots to help press the case, including James Macsween – a scion of the kings of haggis making, Macsween of Edinburgh – George Milne from the National Sheep Association, and Rob Livesey, vice-president of the National Farmers Union Scotland.

Haggis recipes vary, but traditionally use offal – minced sheep organs such as liver, heart and lungs – mixed with spices, suet, onions and oatmeal, which is then soaked in stock and stuffed inside a sheep’s stomach bag. It is then boiled and served with neeps ‘n’ tatties (mashed swede and potatoes).



