Marmalade to be rebranded in new post-Brexit food deal with EU

The product may have to be renamed

This is because marmalade is set to be rebranded, if a new post-Brexit food deal with EU gets the greenlight.

The sticky fruit preserve traditionally made of Seville oranges is a staple of many British pantries which holds an endearing place in the nation's subconscious thanks to iconic character Paddington Bear who has a stomach-rumbling penchant for sandwiches made with the preserve.

While, technically, Marmalade can be made with any citrus fruit, it is usually made with oranges.

The official Cambridge Dictionary describes it as "a soft substance with a sweet but slightly bitter taste, made by cooking oranges or another citrus fruit with sugar to preserve it."

However, this is not actually the issue the EU has with the product, but rather the problem stems from linguistic diversity in Europe.

While in English we have a variety of words to described spreadable fruit in a jar - preserve, conserve, jam, chutney, marmalade, jelly - European languages have their own terms for these products.

For example, in German any jam is called a 'marmelade' while in Spain and Italy, 'mermelada' and 'marmellata' respectively are commonly used for spreads made from other kinds of fruit, such as plums and figs.

The word itself comes from the Portuguese 'marmelada' meaning a quince jam, which derives from 'marmelo' which means quince.

Basically, this led to confusion across Europe with the EU's blanketing food standards mainly because the British had lobbied in the 1970s for only citrus-based jams to be called 'marmalade'.

However, after Brexit, the EU jumped at its chance to change this caveat in food law, meaning that now, as the UK looks to strengthen ties with the EU in a number of new deals, the UK must adopt this change.

This is why, if the deal goes ahead, jars of marmalade in the UK will be sold as 'citrus marmalade' - you reap what you sow.

Some Brits haven't taken to kindly to the trivial name change, with people taken to X to voice their discontent.

One commenter wrote: "F**k your your citrus marmalade! The UK left the EU! It's marmalade! (proceeded by tagging relevant authorities).

Another said: "And bang! Labour continues to lead us right back into the land of Euro regulations."

Meanwhile, one person reminded everyone: "We actually voted to be free of this nonsense."

The UK government has revealed the updated marmalade decree is among 76 updated EU food-related laws that will apply in England, Wales and Scotland too if its wider food deal is agreed.

It is expected that the marmalade rebrand could hit shelves in mid-2027.

If someone could explain the red tape of European bureaucracy to Paddington in the inevitable next film that would be great.