Marmalade will not have to be renamed as a result of EU rules, UK Government says
Marmalade will not have to be renamed as a result of a post-Brexit trade deal, the UK Government has said.
Reporting across the media has raised the alarm that the fruit preserve will have to be relabelled “citrus marmalade” on British supermarket shelves as a result of EU rules the Government is set to adopt as part of a food deal.
The rebrand would be required because of a relaxation of rules by Brussels, which is widening the definition of marmalade, the reports suggested.
The relaxation will allow for other preserves to be sold under that name, as long as they make mention of the kind of fruit being used within the spread.
This law was the product of a British-led lobbying campaign in the 1970s which gave marmalade made from oranges a special status in EU law, and meant other preserves had to be labelled as jam.
A Government source pointed out that marmalade on UK supermarket shelves is already usually labelled as “orange marmalade” or “Seville orange marmalade”, which they suggested was in compliance with the EU rules.
The EU directive states the term “citrus” can be replaced by the name of the fruit used in the marmalade, the source pointed out.
The Government source said: “This isn’t such a sticky situation after all. The only ‘marmalade madness’ is the Tories and Reform boiling over with rage about jar labels that won’t need to change.
“Despite false claims that the name orange marmalade is toast, it will be preserved, so there’s no need to spread alarm.”
Among those who criticised the Government for the apparent threat of a name change for marmalade was shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel.
She wrote on social media site X: “Labour is now attacking the great British marmalade!
“No idea Keir is so desperate to fit in with his EU pals and unpick Brexit, he’s now looking to rename British marmalade to align with the EU.”
Support our Nation today
For the price of a cup of coffee a month you can help us create an independent, not-for-profit, national news service for the people of Wales, by the people of Wales.
“The only ‘marmalade madness’ is the Tories and Reform boiling over with rage about jar labels that won’t need to change”. Well quite. But you won’t stop them any more than anyone did by debunking the myths about straight bananas etc, often invented by one B. Johnson; people who want to believe, will. Back in the 1990s both the EU and the UK Foreign Office set up anti-Euro-Myth units, often called anti-Boris units by those of us obliged to notice. Kept a few people hard at work for a time, such was the non-stop flow of invention. Didn’t do any… Read more »
People actually believed the straight bananas thing. They must have seen bent bananas on sale every time they shopped for groceries. They probably bought bent bananas every week. I despair.
A no there was a regulation (reg 2257/94) that specified that first class bananas were not to be too bent. The Sun picked up on this written by Lucida Evans. It was pushed forward by the French to support their West Indian islands. Boris did not start this one but certainly jumped on the bandwagon. There were other pressures on the curvey bananas at this time from Jimmy Carter that objected to the EU giving preferential terms to the West Indian growers that have a C shaped fruit (eg Fyfees) compared with the straighter and larger South American J shaped… Read more »
Can’t wait for a hardline Brexiteer Government led by Mr Brexit himself, when all this traitorous nonsense is chucked out.
I assume you are being sarcastic, but maybe make it a bit clearer? You wouldn’t want to create the wrong impression.
Priti Patel should direct her ire at her old leader, Rishi Sunak, who signed the 2023 Windsor Agreement which included the now controversial condition re naming marmalade.