Australian Prisoner Loses Challenge Over Vegemite Ban

A prisoner in Australia has lost a legal challenge against a state-wide ban on Vegemite, after arguing that being denied the polarizing yeast-based spread violated his human right to "enjoy his culture as an Australian."

Andre McKechnie, 55, who is serving a life sentence for murder, took his case for the salty, sticky byproduct of brewing beer to the Supreme Court of Victoria. He contended that being refused Vegemite infringed upon his right under the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act to "enjoy his culture as an Australian in the community with other persons of Australian background."

Justice Claire Harris acknowledged that the prison authorities' refusal to allow McKechnie Vegemite did "limit his cultural rights" under the charter. However, she ultimately found the ban was justified as it served the authorities' goals of removing illicit drugs and alcohol from the prison system.

"The limitation on Mr. McKechnie’s ability to enjoy Vegemite in community with other persons of Australian background is primarily that he is a prisoner," Harris wrote in her judgment. Prison officials testified that Vegemite has been banned across Victoria's 12 prisons for the past two decades. The ban was implemented because the spread could potentially impair sniffer dogs' ability to detect narcotics and could be used to brew alcohol due to its yeast content.

McKechnie, who represented himself from Barwon Prison, argued that neighboring New South Wales state does not ban Vegemite from its prisons. He presented this as evidence that less restrictive means were available to achieve drug and alcohol control outcomes.

While most Australians regard Vegemite as a culinary icon, it is often considered an acquired taste by those not raised on it. Former U.S. President Barack Obama once famously described the spread as "horrible."

McKechnie initially testified that the lack of Vegemite had contributed to his thiamine deficiency, noting that both Vegemite and pork are sources of the vitamin. As a practicing Jew, he abstained from pork and took daily vitamin supplements. However, he later dropped the thiamine issue as "not important" after legal objections from prison authorities.

He stated that not eating Vegemite made him feel "deprived of being able to practice my Australian culture, sad and disconnected from my family and community." The judge responded that it was "difficult to accept that the inability to consume Vegemite, rather than the fact of his imprisonment, is a material cause of his sadness and disconnection from his family and community."

McKechnie cited a 2003 article in the food studies journal "Gastronomica," which suggested Vegemite could be the best predictor of national identity of any food, based on research linking a taste for the spread to early exposure and Australian birth or ancestry. He also referenced the Australian Olympic Committee's action to lift a Chinese import ban on Vegemite before the 2008 Beijing Olympics and the band Men at Work's song "Down Under," which mentions a "Vegemite sandwich."

Regarding the spread's potential for drug concealment and alcohol brewing, McKechnie presented a 2017 Melbourne newspaper article about an unsuccessful attempt to use the odor of Vegemite to mask illicit drugs at a music festival. He also argued that Vegemite contains no live yeast and that fruit would be more effective for home-brewing alcohol. However, a state prison department manager cited publicly available research suggesting Vegemite aids in the fermentation of home-brewed beer. The judge ultimately upheld prison authorities' argument that McKechnie failed to provide sufficient evidence that Vegemite does not interfere with drug sniffer dogs.