Interesting News Article Just in time for Burns Night

Banned Scottish Dish Allowed Back in US

Updated: Monday, 25 Jan 2010, 2:48 PM EST
Published : Monday, 25 Jan 2010, 2:44 PM EST

By FRANK CARNEVALE

(MYFOX NATIONAL) – After being banned for 21 years, haggis will soon be allowed back into the United States.

According to Wikipedia haggis is a Scottish specialty dish that contains sheep's offal (heart, liver and lungs,) minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to lift restrictions on the import of the dish, according to Reuters .

The news comes as Scots and fans of Robert Burns gather to toast the famous poet's life. Burns night , which is celebrated on Jan. 25, usually includes a toast of whiskey and a festive dinner with haggis as the main dish, presented with bagpipe fanfare and saluted with Burns poem "The Address To A Haggis."

U.S. authorities prohibited haggis over food safety fears that its main ingredient, sheep's lungs, could potentially be lethal.

The Guardian reported that during the ban some Scots would smuggle into the U.S. a haggis for their relatives. And butchers in the U.S. have tried to make their own versions of the pudding without using the vital ingredient: sheep.