The Cornish pasty was granted protected status by the EU in 2011, and now the popular meat-filled pastry dish is on track to get its own visitor attraction.

The “Cornish Pasty museum” is the brainchild of Malcolm Ball, CEO of established market operations group WMC Retail Partners, a company that has Old Spitalfields and Shepherd’s Bush markets in London on its books.

WMC is leading the venture and looking for partners for the proposed attraction, which would be sited at the Par Stadium Retail Park , near St Austell – just a few miles from the Eden Project.

“The pasty is synonymous with our region and whilst they do exist in other forms throughout the length and breadth of the UK, most people view Cornwall as the ‘pasty capital’. It's only right that we mark this with the creation of a museum right here in St Austell,” Ball told local press.

Like Champagne or Gorgonzola, the Cornish pasty has protected geographical indication status, granted by the EU to promote and ensure the origin of certain specialty products.

It’s thought the 13,000sq ft (1,208sq m) attraction would celebrate the pasty’s history and show how they are made. It would include interactive displays, food sampling, a farm shop plus a restaurant and bar selling Cornish specialties.

Ball – who is a Cornishman himself – said the idea came to him when he realised there was only one pasty museum in the world, and that it’s in Mexico. The museum opened in Real del Monte in 2011. Pasties – albeit a spicier version – are a popular staple in Mexico, having been introduced to the locals by Cornish miners who travelled the 4,500 miles to mine silver in the early 1800s.

Ball has three decades of experience in the hospitality, leisure and retail industries, including the Vinopolis wine-tasting attraction in London.