Marmalade will not have to be renamed as a result of a post-Brexit trade deal, the Government has confirmed. This follows media reports raising alarm that the fruit preserve would need to be relabelled "citrus marmalade" on British supermarket shelves.
The proposed rebrand was reportedly due to EU rules the Government is set to adopt as part of a food deal. These rules involve a relaxation of regulations by Brussels, which is widening the definition of marmalade, the reports indicated.
This relaxation would allow for other preserves to be sold under that name, as long as they make mention of the kind of fruit being used within the spread. Notably, the original EU law, which gave orange marmalade special status and meant other preserves had to be labelled as jam, was the product of a British-led lobbying campaign in the 1970s.
A Government source pointed out that marmalade on UK supermarket shelves is already usually labelled as “orange marmalade” or “Seville orange marmalade”, which they suggested was in compliance with the EU rules.
The EU directive states the term “citrus” can be replaced by the name of the fruit used in the marmalade, the source pointed out.
The Government source said: “This isn’t such a sticky situation after all. The only ‘marmalade madness’ is the Tories and Reform boiling over with rage about jar labels that won’t need to change.
“Despite false claims that the name orange marmalade is toast, it will be preserved, so there’s no need to spread alarm.”
Among those who criticised the Government for the apparent threat of a name change for marmalade was shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel.
She wrote on social media site X: “Labour is now attacking the great British marmalade!
“No idea Keir is so desperate to fit in with his EU pals and unpick Brexit, he’s now looking to rename British marmalade to align with the EU.”
