Non-brewed condiment is amalt vinegar substitute created withwater,acetic acid, flavourings and oftencaramel colour, generally used infish and chip shops in theUnited Kingdom andIreland.[1][2] It is also used in salads.
Traditional vinegars are made byfermenting alcohol (wine, in the case of wine vinegar;cider for cider vinegar; and anale made frommalted barley in the case of malt vinegar). All of the colours in the vinegar are from natural sources, and the fermentation process requires time.
Non-brewed condiment is acetic acid mixed with colourings and flavourings, making its manufacture a much quicker and cheaper process than the production of vinegar. According toTrading Standards in the UK, it cannot be labelled as vinegar or even put in traditional vinegar bottles if it is being sold or put out on counters in fish-and-chip shops.[3]
According to Arthur Slater, writing in the August 1970 edition ofIndustrial Archaeology, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate ruled in a 1949 prosecution at Bow Street Magistrates' Court that the termnon-brewed vinegar, which up until then had been used to market such acetic-acid solutions, was in contravention of theMerchandise Marks Act 1926 as it constituted a false trade description. The decision was upheld on appeal to the King's Bench Division. Slater goes on to state that after the unsuccessful appeal the trade association concerned announced that in future their product would be sold asnon-brewed condiment.[4]
