Last updated 16:06, Wednesday, 13 August 2008

CUMBRIA’S most famous export has moved a step closer to protected status.

Campaign: Austen Davies from Border Country Foods who has been campaigning for protection of the Cumberland sausage.

The Cumberland sausage has received backing from the Government in a campaign to ban pale imitations made outside the county from carrying its name.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has agreed the famous round banger should be granted the same protected status enjoyed by Parma ham and champagne. The application will now be sent to Brussels for final approval from the EU.

Champion Cumberland sausage maker Graham Gordon called it a “great day for Cumbria”.

The Carlisle butcher said: “It’s fantastic. This will help preserve the Cumberland sausage and make sure poor quality imitations can’t use the name.”

The Government backing is the culmination of a five year campaign led by county food agency Made in Cumbria and the Cumberland Sausage Association.

If granted, the Cumberland sausage will become the only meat product in the north of England to achieve protected status.

Cumberland sausage producers have watched in horror as their product has begun to be mass-produced with quality and taste sacrificed. Some alleged Cumberland sausages contain as little as 45 per cent meat.

Protected status would not only mean Cumberland sausages cannot be made outside the county, but that strict criteria would be imposed to guard quality.

Genuine articles would need to contain at least 80 per cent meat and be unlinked.

A mincer must be used with holes at a minimum of 4.5mm to ensure a rough cut texture.

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