Food - Drink
The Ingredient That Got Haggis Banned In The US
By ERICA MARTINEZ
Nose-to-tail eating is defined as using every part of an animal as a food source; it’s also a cost-efficient and sustainable way of eating. Nose-to-tail eating is a part of many cultural dishes, but Scottish-Americans have been unable to enjoy their traditional haggis due to the ban of one particular ingredient.
The national dish of Scotland, haggis is a savory pudding made with a mixture of sheep liver, heart, lungs, beef or mutton suet, oatmeal, and spices, all boiled in a sheep’s stomach. However, in 1971 the U.S.D.A. deemed animal lungs a foodborne-illness risk, so American Scots have had to have their haggis without them.
Haggis can still be ordered online or found in specialty shops, but you won’t find lung on the ingredients list, nor can you import it from the U.K.. Critics of the ban claim that without the lung, the texture of haggis is all wrong, leading some to take matters into their own hands and butcher animals to use whatever parts they need.