According to British bacon maker Danepak, over 560 million bacon butties are eaten every year. According to the company’s web site, 37% of people say that a bacon butty helps improve their mood.
Apparently a good number of those bacon butties (bacon sandwiches) are eaten by British truckers. And now the European Union is thinking about trying to change truckers’ habits in order to improve their health and safety.

A butty is typically a sandwich made quickly and containing a filling not usually considered normal - bacon, chips (French fries), crisps (potato chips), etc. Bacon butties sometimes have other ingredients, such as cheese, a fried egg, even avocado or chutney. They are often fried, like a grilled cheese.
Bacon butties are a mainstay of truckstop greasy spoons – sort of like chicken fried steak or cheeseburgers in the U.S.
The British newspaper Financial Times reported recently that under an EU proposal, truck drivers would have to go through a 420-hour course before being allowed on the road. This would be on top of their regular truck driving test. A one-week refresher every five years would be paid for out of drivers’ own pockets.
One of the goals of the course would be to check drivers’ fitness and teach them about the effect food could have on their driving. Bacon butties, chock full of saturated fat, cholesterol and salt, would no doubt be a target.
Roger Rhodes, co-owner of The Pantry in Willoughby, told the paper, “These bureaucrats have got nothing better to do than sit on their backsides and try to upset British people as much as they can. If a driver wants to have a fry-up, let him have a fry-up.”
Philip Bradbourn, a member of the European Parliament’s transport committee, criticized the plan as unnecessary red tape. He suggested that “the bureaucrat who dreamed that one up visit a truckstop and spell out his plan to the patrons.”
Just imagine if DOT officials walked into a truckstop and tried to get truckers to give up their all-you-can eat buffets.

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