IT is a food hated by vast numbers of people, according to its own advertising campaigns.
But even by those standards, Denmark’s verdict on Marmite is a harsh one – it has banned it.
Copenhagen acted because the British savoury spread contravenes foodstuff laws prohibiting the sale of products fortified with added vitamins.
Although the bizarre law has been in force since 2004, Marmite has slipped under the radar of the country’s food watchdogs, until now.
The sticky brown substance loved – and hated – by millions of Britons is now officially outlawed. It joins the ranks of such foods as Australian alternative Vegemite, Horlicks, Ovaltine and Farley’s Rusks on Denmark’s blacklist.
The ban has dismayed expat Britons living in the country.
“What am I supposed to put on my toast now?” said British advertising executive Colin Smith, who has lived there for six years.
“I still have a bit left in the cupboard, but it’s not going to last long,” he added.
Marmite fans fear they will have to subscribe to a black-market trade in the brown stuff, smuggled in from nearby Sweden or Germany, where it is still on sale legally.