I Cant Believe it's Not Jam

You have to feel sympathy for  Preserve maker Michelle McKenna is in a pickle after the EU tells her apple spread doesn’t qualify as either jam or conserve.

Strict EU rules on food labelling have left a preserve maker in a quandary over what to call its British Bramley apples products.

Because the fruit does not yield as much sugar as strawberries or raspberries, Michelle McKenna’s Clippy’s range cannot be ‘jam’.

However, her jars also do not qualify as fruit spread, conserve or reduced sugar jam.

Michelle McKenna, who runs the business with fiance Paul Gorman, began selling her products – labelled ‘Jam’ – to outlets such as Harvey Nichols and Ocado in 2010.

But trading standards said last year that sugar levels were too low so she changed it to ‘Conserve’. Jams must have a minimum sugar content of 60g per 100g, they said.

‘Clippy’s’ contains 52g to 53g – too much to fall into the reduced sugar jam category, while fruit spreads must be 100 per cent fruit.

Miss McKenna, 38, called for a little common sense, saying: ‘We don’t know what to call it and we’re in a real quandary.’