Cornish pasty makers have been left baffled after it emerged Brussels bureaucrats have invented a "phantom turnip".

The European Commission is preparing guidelines on what ingredients should be allowed in the traditional WestCountry dish as it looks to afford the delicacy protected status.

Officials have ruled that pasties must contain swede if they want to be considered the genuine article.

But in a confusing twist that has drawn criticism from eurosceptics, Cornish pasties will be allowed to go on sale advertised as containing turnip.

Yet the dish will be considered a fake if they actually do contain the errant root vegetable.

The documents state that only minced or diced beef, sliced potato, onion and swede are permitted to fill the pastry, which has it origins in the Cornish tin mining industry.

Yet the guidelines make reference to a linguistic Cornish quirk where a swede is referred to as a turnip – even though they are very different root vegetables.

The swede is white with a sharp taste and the turnip is orange with a more earthy flavour.
The guidance reads: "Traditionally, in Cornwall 'swede' is referred to as 'turnip' so the two terms are interchangeable, but the actual ingredient is 'swede'."

A spokesman for the European Commission stressed it would be up to the British government to determine whether a pasty fell foul of the rules or not.

William Dartmouth, UKIP Euro MP for the South West, said: "It just goes to prove that anyone who tries to micro-manage the rich heritage of this country is simply asking for trouble.

"Distant Eurocrats will never understand the quirky intricacies of life in the UK, the local language and customs that have grown up over centuries.

"The case of the phantom turnip is only the latest in a long line of food-related chaos inflicted on us by Europe. It's time they learnt their lesson and gave us all a break."

The draft regulations, published last month and due to come into force in January, specify that the product must be D-shaped and crimped on one side, "never on top".