By Matthew Legg Business editor

Last updated 10:20, Saturday, 09 August 2008

Cumbria's most famous export has moved a step closer to protected status.

Grahame Gordon, of Carlisle, with some of his award-winning Cumberland Sausage

The Cumberland sausage has received backing from the Government in a campaign to ban pale imitations made outside the county from carrying its name.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has agreed the famous round banger should be granted the same protected status enjoyed by Parma ham and champagne.

The application will now be sent to Brussels for final approval from the EU.

Champion Cumberland sausage maker Graham Gordon called it a “great day for Cumbria”.

The Carlisle butcher said: “It’s fantastic. This will help preserve the Cumberland sausage and make sure poor quality imitations can’t use the name.”

The Government backing is the culmination of a five year campaign led by county food agency Made in Cumbria and the Cumberland Sausage Association.

If granted, the Cumberland sausage will become the only meat product in the north of England to achieve protected status. Annette Gibbons, the Cumbrian TV chef said: “I’m delighted.

“It’s high time the Cumberland sausage was celebrated for the fantastic product it is.

“It is part of our culinary heritage and it is right that it is not sullied by poor imitations made outside the county.

“Before the protected status idea came up, anybody could make a sausage and call it Cumberland. Some of the imitations are very poor and harm the brand.

“Some don’t have a very high pork meat content and some have even been made in links rather than the traditional round.

“One of the greatest things is how the sausage changes around the county, so in Maryport it tastes more peppery, while in Westmorland more sage is added and in Carlisle there may be more of a nutmeg taste.

“It’s about time the real Cumberland sausage makers here in Cumbria were acknowledged, celebrated and protected.”

Cumberland sausage producers have watched in horror as their product has begun to be mass-produced with quality and taste sacrificed. Some alleged Cumberland sausages contain as little as 45 per cent meat.

Protected status would not only mean Cumberland sausages cannot be made outside the county, but that strict criteria would be imposed to guard quality.

Genuine articles would need to contain at least 80 per cent meat and be unlinked. A mincer must be used with holes at a minimum of 4.5mm to ensure a rough cut texture.

The Barrow-born star of the Hairy Bikers TV cookery show, Dave Myers, has been a vociferous member of the campaign.

He said: “Traditional Cumberland sausage has been part of my life since I was a kid.

“If you go down south every body’s got it on the menu but it’s not Cumberland Sausage, it’s a washed out affair.

“It’s a great sausage and it deserves to be protected.”