Welsh Dragon slain by trading standards
Pubs who have had problems with their local trading standards officers will be interested to hear they are not alone.
A smoked meat producer and pub food provider was ordered to change the description of its Welsh Dragon Sausages to stop confusion over its main ingredient. To comply with the law, Black Mountain has been told it must make it clear that the main ingredient is pork, not dragon.
The move has been labelled an example of 'the nanny state at its worst' after trading standards officers swooped on the firm at the tail end of last year.
Black Mountains Smokery head Jonathan Carthew said: "This is the nanny state at its worst. I don't think any of our customers actually believe that we use dragon meat in our sausages."
Powys council's trading standards officers sent a warning letter to the firm after a routine spot check on its products. It claimed that vegetarians may mistakenly buy the sausages, thinking they were meat free. The letter read: "The public analyst has stated that the name Welsh Dragon Sausages is not sufficiently precise to inform a purchaser of the true nature of the food."
"It's incredibly anal," said Stephen Terry, licensee of the Hardwick, in Abergavenny, a pub which buys many products from Black Mountains Smokery. "For someone with an IQ of an aphid, it may be a bit confusing whether there is dragon in it. For those of us who have evolved to walk and talk, this is a ridiculous measure.
"To call it Welsh Dragon is great as a link to Welsh heritage. This doesn't help and is a real shame because it enhances the product."
