A GROUP of MPs are calling for the famous Dorset ‘knob’ to be granted protected status.

Protected status emphasises the relationship between a geographical region and a particular product: seeking to enshrine the quality and reputation of the product and prevent the sale of poorer imitations.

The savoury biscuit is produced by Moores Biscuits in Bridport. The family run company has been baking in Dorset and currently operates just five miles away from the site of the original bakery.

MPs from the All-Parliamentary Group on Geographically Produced Foods (APPG) argue that, having left the European Union, more of Britain’s finest regional foods should be awarded the status.

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Alicia Kearns, Chair of the APPG, said: “As an MP with three Geographical Indications in my constituency, the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie, Rutland Bitter and Stilton Cheese, I have seen first-hand the extraordinary effort, care and indeed love that goes in to making some of the UK’s finest products.

“We have a once-in-a-generation chance to re-define our food and drink policy, to promote our local industries, support the best of our culinary heritage, and further create good paying jobs in the agriculture, food and drink manufacturing sectors.

In a 30 page report, the APPG said “too often the food and drink products and culture of Britain is played down” and that granting protected status to regional products would help “raise the profile of British food and drink”.

The group of MPs issued 38 recommendations to the Government in order to “fully harness the enormous potential food and drink offers our local communities.”

The iconic Dorset Knob has been produced since before the 1860s when butter and sugar was added to leftover dough and rolled into small buttons: they were then baked in the dying heat of the bread over in order to dry them out like rusks.

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Dorset Knobs have become so popular that, earlier this year, the Prince of Wales School said it would be adding knob-throwing to the curriculum.

Gary Spracklen, headteacher at the school , said: “The Dorset knob biscuit is part of our local cultural heritage.”

The biscuit was celebrated at the famous knob-throwing competition. The event last took place in 2019 but was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. It was then axed this year as organisers said it had grown too large to be run by a village committee.

Dorset's knob-throwing competition has been cancelled every year since 2019 with the committee saying, this year, that it was simply too big to be run by the village group: with more than 8,000 people attending in 2019.