Sunday, November 19, 2006
Sausages
The Times reports on Saturday here, about Welsh Dragon Sausages. This is apparently a spicy sausage made in Powys Wales, so far so good, but unfortunately for them a local jobsworth holding a taxpayer-funded sinecure has decided to cast himself in the role of St George and slay the dragon as it were.
Yes Powys County Council trading standards have decreed that they cannot be called "Dragon Sausages" because they contain no dragon. That this is an exercise in abuse of authority can be seen by the fact they have agreed that "Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages" is acceptable, but doesn't this imply either a mixture pig and dragon meat or meat that has come from dragons fed solely on pork?
Of course the company are supinely accepting the situation rather than fighting the council, and logically that's the best thing for them to do, as of course they simply want to produce and sell sausages (and there's a good chance the court case will go the council's way these days). Personally I think I'd have been inclined to force the council to prove they contained no dragon, or alternatively to have bred a new breed of pig called Welsh Dragon thus fulfilling the letter of the law.
Of course (and the article doesn't mention this) there are plenty of products named after things they don't (I hope) contain. A quick search of my sparsely provisioned residence found some empty bottles of Tiger Beer, prior to reading about the dragon sausages I'd always thought this was just a name, but I suppose it must actually contain real tiger, otherwise they'd have to say "Tiger Hop and Malt Beer". It's no wonder tigers are an endangered species.
As an aside, I've never been one to believe dragons were a mere myth, in fact I think they lived in Wales until quite recently as evidenced in "Ivor the Engine". As far as I know they are now extinct, said event being brought on as an unintended result of government welfare policy which resulted in many young unmarried Welsh mothers, thus causing the traditional diet of maidens to dry up. The dragons thus deprived of their source of food, died of starvation. This has been hushed up by the media to save the government embarrassment over wiping out an endangered species.
Yes Powys County Council trading standards have decreed that they cannot be called "Dragon Sausages" because they contain no dragon. That this is an exercise in abuse of authority can be seen by the fact they have agreed that "Welsh Dragon Pork Sausages" is acceptable, but doesn't this imply either a mixture pig and dragon meat or meat that has come from dragons fed solely on pork?
Of course the company are supinely accepting the situation rather than fighting the council, and logically that's the best thing for them to do, as of course they simply want to produce and sell sausages (and there's a good chance the court case will go the council's way these days). Personally I think I'd have been inclined to force the council to prove they contained no dragon, or alternatively to have bred a new breed of pig called Welsh Dragon thus fulfilling the letter of the law.
Of course (and the article doesn't mention this) there are plenty of products named after things they don't (I hope) contain. A quick search of my sparsely provisioned residence found some empty bottles of Tiger Beer, prior to reading about the dragon sausages I'd always thought this was just a name, but I suppose it must actually contain real tiger, otherwise they'd have to say "Tiger Hop and Malt Beer". It's no wonder tigers are an endangered species.
As an aside, I've never been one to believe dragons were a mere myth, in fact I think they lived in Wales until quite recently as evidenced in "Ivor the Engine". As far as I know they are now extinct, said event being brought on as an unintended result of government welfare policy which resulted in many young unmarried Welsh mothers, thus causing the traditional diet of maidens to dry up. The dragons thus deprived of their source of food, died of starvation. This has been hushed up by the media to save the government embarrassment over wiping out an endangered species.
Labels: Nanny Knows Best
