Ducking the issue

There’s a new Euromyth about Peking Duck. Previous claims that the EU was going to force a name change (in the same style as the Bombay Mix myth) have now been replaced in the Mail and the Telegraph, along with other papers, by claims the EU has banned Peking Duck altogether!

It will come as no surprise to anyone except the most gullible that the EU hasn’t banned Peking Duck.

What has actually happened is that Westminster council have discovered that some of the the special ovens used to cook Peking Duck emit too much carbon monoxide - and surely nobody needs to be told the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning!

There are of course plenty of other ovens that do not break the regulations so any disruption to Peking Duck, however unfortunate, has really been quite minimal.

And while the facts are buried in the article the usual formula of nonsense is laid on top. Headlines scream of a ban, the blame is laid squarely at the foot of the EU and there is righteous indignation from a celebrity, Ken Hom in this case. But of course "Eleven restaurants must update their ovens because they release too much carbon monoxide" is not a news story and certainly not one that is the EU’s fault!