Scotland’s largest haggis maker creating new recipe to meet US rules | Haggis

Scotland’s largest haggis maker is creating a “compliant” recipe of the nation’s most famous dish to circumvent strict American food regulations after more than 50 years in exile.

The decision by Macsween of Edinburgh comes after traditional haggis was banned by the US authorities in 1971, taking issue with the sheep’s-lung component of the recipe, which was then prohibited for use as human food by federal regulation.

Traditional haggis contains about 15% sheep lung. The 1971 law made it illegal in effect to import or sell traditional haggis, making it difficult for Scottish-Americans to access Scotland’s most famous dish.

Over the years, petitions to end the decades-old ban have been made by former environment secretaries and there have been stories of smuggled, bootleg and blackmarket haggis.

Macsween is to substitute sheep lung with sheep heart, according to the Telegraph. But those with Scottish ancestry hoping to celebrate Burns Night with the substitution will have to wait another year, as the company is now testing the product with the aim of launching in January 2026.

A US launch would be a “significant opportunity”, said James Macsween, the managing director of Macsween of Edinburgh, adding that the industry was losing nearly £2m annually in potential sales with the existing ban.

“In response to this longstanding ban, we have been innovating to create a compliant version of haggis without compromising the dish’s authentic flavours and texture,” Macsween said.

It’s familiar territory for a company that has also created vegetarian versions of its haggis for the US in recent years. It has also already made adjustments to comply with regulations set by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, substituting the lung with lamb heart and fat, which have since made Canada Macsween’s largest overseas market.

In recent years, appetite for haggis has risen, according to government figures from 2020, which revealed that, over the past decade, the total export value of haggis was £8.8m with a 136% increase in tonnage of haggis shipped across the world, including a growth of exports in Greece, Hong Kong and Ghana.