Baylen Linnekin on the Campaign to Free the Haggis

Haggis is the sort of food that some
people love to mock, and others love to eat—if they have the
stomach for it (and other unlikely ingredients). But authentic
haggis contains lungs, and their use in dishes prepared for humans
has been forbidden in the United States since 1971.

Well, that just gets the Scots’ tempers in an ferment, and
they’ve enlisted the British government to push once again to
overturn the ban. Frequent Reason contributor Baylen
Linnekin
has the story over at Vice:

The reasoning behind the USDA’s ban on lungs is generally
couched in terms of food safety. Fluids—specifically, ones that
might make you squeamish, including stomach fluids—sometimes make
their way into the lungs of an animal during the slaughtering
process.

An 1847 treatise recommends parboiling the lungs “to permit the
phlegm and blood to disgorge from the[m],” one issue the USDA
regulations sought to address.

The USDA ban has succeeded not only in halting the import of
authentic haggis prepared in Scotland, but also on the sale of
sheep lungs for use in haggis made in this country.

Notably, the US ban doesn’t just target haggis. While often
painted as a “haggis ban,” the USDA rule also bans traditional
lung-containing dishes from a variety of cultures, including those
common to China, Nepal, and several European countries.

Linnekin notes that the British government’s participation in an
effort to overturn this particular U.S. food rule may well be
driven by a desire to influence the upcoming vote on Scottish
independence. But if political pragmatism expands your right to
choke down an authentic national delicacy seemingly invented on a
dare, so be it!