There is the chorizo in Spain, the bratwurst in Germany, the banger in Britain and the snag in Australia. No matter what you call them, sausages are popular the world over and Australians eat 11 ½ million sausages a week.

Historically, sausages were a way of using up bits of the animal not considered palatable on their own, bits like lungs, liver and off-cuts.

Now, regulations state that at least half sausage content must include fat-free meat flesh. Have you ever wondered what else is in sausage?

Gourmet sausage maker Garry Aquilina told Food Investigators the only limit to today’s sausages are butchers’ imaginations! Here are the ingredients that go into his snags:  

- meat
- wheat cereal (for bulk)
- soy protein (for texture)
- herbs and spices
- natural casings made from intestines (Garry prefers them to the artificial collagen casings used by many mass sausage manufacturers)

Gourmet vs Mass Market Sausages

Is the gourmet sausage tastier and/or healthier?

In 2007, consumer magazine Choice employed sausage experts to taste a total of 24 different sausages cooked by a professional chef on a gas barbeque. They scored the sausages on visual appearance, texture, workmanship, flavour and aroma. The expert tasters gave the highest score to a standard pork sausage. (Most, but not all, of the gourmet sausages in the Choice survey were from major supermarkets.)

Food Investigators’ nutritionist Hanan Saleh says gourmet sausages can be similarly high in fat and salt to mass market sausages (sausages need a proportion of fat to make them juicy) but suggests some might have a bit more taste. She reckons sausages can be included in a healthy diet, but suggests no more than twice a month.

How to cook safe-to-eat BBQ sausages at home or in the park:
(courtesy of the Department of Primary Industries)

Keep it Cold

1.    Defrost in the fridge.
2.    Chill food thoroughly in the fridge before the BBQ or picnic.
3.    Use a cooler bag or esky to transport food.
4.    Do not eat food that is meant to be in the fridge if it has been left out for more than two hours.
5.    Refrigerate leftovers within two hours after cooking and use within a couple of days.

Keep it Clean

1.    Wash and dry hands thoroughly before preparing or eating food.
2.    Separate cooked or ready-to-eat foods, such as salads and dips and use different utensils for each.
3.    Do not put cooked sausages back on the same plate that held raw sausages. Be sure to have plenty of clean utensils and plates.

Keep it Hot

1.    Make sure there is no pink left in sausage meat.
2.    A meat thermometer can remove the guess work. The correct temperature for sausages is 71 degrees Celsius.

Did you know the word sausage is derived from the Latin word salsus which means “salted” or “preserved”?