Common sense gone mad

In a world where marketing is king, stretching the truth is often considered an integral part of the monarchy, writes Rural Affairs Editor Nathan Rous.

Only a few manufacturers follow the Ronseal school of thought in which the contents do exactly what they say on the tin.

I'm not advocating that they actively confuse the consumer, but once you take imagination away from the product you get shelves stocked with items that have no distinguishing features. And if consumers crave choice, giving them the opposite would create a ready-meal revolt. Trust me, I've had some revolting ready-meals in my time.

By all accounts this is the vision of Powys County Council. Believe it or not, its Trading Standards department rapped the knuckles of a county butcher for churning out bangers that he'd dubbed Welsh Dragon Sausages. The reason? Well, the sausages plainly failed to contain any hint of dragon whatsover. Not a morsel. Not even essence of dragon.

Of course, the producer would say he was simply being inventive while paying homage to his homeland. Not good enough I'm afraid. If you want to sell Welsh Dragon Sausages they have to contain dragon.

Common sense has gone out of the glazed opening in the wall (I don't want to call it a window just in case the analogy doesn't comply with legislation). After all, the only person who would have been mildly disappointed at the fact that Welsh Dragon Sausages actually failed to contain any dragon is Saint George.

So where now do we draw the line? Are we only confusing first-time buyers by allowing the term 'cottage pie' to continue? After all, what happens if one such person rushes out to get their hands on a cottage pie in the hope it may have a thatched two-bed under the mashed potato topping?

Do we ban fairy cakes because they are a poor imitation of something that actually doesn't exist? Will we allow someone to take Maynard's to court for the very fact its wine gums fail to contain a trace of alcohol? And what about baby oil? Do the manufacturers need to clarify somewhere on the bottle that the lotion does not come from feeding newborns through a mangle?

Our society has become so litigious that we're in danger of drowning the entrepreneur in a sea of red tape.

Britain's agriculture industry has many problems, and with the Government doing as little as possible to protect the farmers and producers it is likely to get worse not better.

What we cannot afford to do is snuff out their ideas at the very first opportunity. Instead we should be ploughing money into rural schemes which steer consumers away from the convenience meals and the junk food, and alert them to the benefits of great grub grown locally.

Rob Ward is absolutely right in today's feature article saying that the producer holds the power. But if we categorically fail to support them then we simply cannot expect them to flourish. We succeed only in putting them to the sword. And Saint George knows a bit about that.