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		Save our Sausages Tuesday 8th November 2005 Brussels – East Midlands Conservative MEPs Roger Helmer and Chris Heaton-Harris today welcomed a Lincolnshire butcher to the European Parliament in Brussels as they backed a Lincolnshire Echo campaign to Save the Lincolnshire Sausage. Local butcher Kenny Roberts barbecued 10lb of best bangers on the steps of the Parliament at the beginning of National Sausage Week to highlight why the traditional sausages should only be made in Lincolnshire Both MEPs have vowed to lobby the EU to stop firms outside the county calling their sausages Lincolnshire bangers. Earlier in the year, fifteen county butchers teamed up to form a committee to seek legal protection for their bangers through the European Commission. If they are successful, they will gain geographical indicator protection which means only county butchers can make the traditional sage sausage using the Lincolnshire name. Speaking from Brussels, Roger Helmer said: “The East Midlands is fortunate to have a range of excellent regional specialities like Melton Mowbray Pork pies, Stilton cheese and of course the Lincolnshire sausage. I support Lincolnshire sausages because I think that regional foods are a vital and historical part of the rich diversity of our region, but I eat them because they’re damned good bangers’. Chris Heaton-Harris added: “At the moment the brand of the Lincolnshire sausage is being corrupted by substandard substitutes made all over the country. This degrades the high quality work of our butchers. The protection would help to serve the local economy and retailers and the public would have to buy Lincolnshire to get the quality the brand is known for”. Many types of food already have the geographical protection required for the sausages, including Newcastle Brown ale, Dovedale cheese, Rutland bitter and Single Gloucester.