Deep-fried Mars Bar inventors seek EU protected status for sweet treat

The owners of a Scots chip shop have launched an application to the European Union to have the deep-fried Mars Bar protected in law.

If the bid from the Carron Fish Bar in Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, is successful, it could join other products such as Arbroath smokies, Cornish pasties and Parma ham in becoming part of the EU's Protected Food Name Scheme.

The high-calorie snack might not be recommended by health lobbyists and anti-obesity campaigners, but it has become very popular with tourists to the Aberdeenshire community.

Lorraine Watson, the co-owner of the Carron Fish Bar told STV that her take-away business sells more than 150 of the deep-fried delicacies every week.

Now, she is hoping that the EU will accede to her request to have the dish known as the Stonehaven Deep-Fried Mars Bar throughout Europe and beyond.

She said: "When I first started out with this idea, it maybe sounded a bit silly, but we have looked into it and filled in the paperwork and we will just have to wait for a response."

Ms Watson revealed the battered snack was invented in the take-away - which used to be known as the Haven Fish Bar - back in 1995.

She added: "We tend to find that people either love it or hate it, but it definitely has a quirky quality and lots of folk come to Stonehaven and want to try it for themselves.

"And there is a serious side to it as well. The Deep-Fried Mars Bar is something which is made and sold all over the world, from the United States to Australia.

"So why shouldn't we try to do something to make sure we are remembered as the fish-and-chip shop and the community which came up with the dish in the first place?"

The EU Protected Food Name Scheme is designed to allow locally-produced food and drink products to have their unique heritage and character preserved. And Brussels has already helped the cause of manufacturers in Scotland, England, France and Italy.

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