I Can't Believe it's Not Jam

You've got to feel some sympathy for  Preserve maker Michelle McKenna whose in a pickle after the EU saidher apple spread doesn’t qualify as 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.

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.

''We've already had to re-label everything once at the behest of the EU and now we are being told that we are still wrong. What are we supposed to call our jams?'

Her Apple Pie Conserve; Apple, Rhubarb & Ginger Conserve; Apple & Blueberry Conserve and Apple & Strawberry Conserve contain more fruit than any High Street brand - but this is seen as a difficulty by exacting authorities.

'Our labels now say conserve, but that's not right, because they are supposed to say what sort of conserve it is. And we can't call it a jam.