40 Sausages a £1 in Asda

geordie_joe

SilverBird wrote: »

Research what's in a sausage and you'd be surprised at what can actually count as "meat".
As to "40 sausages for £1" that's 2.5p per sausage and I shudder at the thought of what they're made from!
Don't be fooled by sausages with claims of, say, 90% meat - what counts as "lean" meat may still surprise many consumers.
Personally, I'd give sausages a miss!

I already have researched it, and can tell you that the "meat content" of a pork sausage can be up to 30% fat and up to 25% connective tissue (i.e., rind, tendon, sinew, skin etc.).

This is the reason Debbie and Andrew can claim their sausages contain 97% pork on the front of the package when the back clearly shows that 22.3% of the sausage is actually fat.

Can't say how much of it is connective tissue (i.e., rind, tendon, sinew, skin etc.), because they don't have to tell you that.

If you think about it, the more meat there is in a sausage, the more fat and connective tissue there can be in it. This is why D&A's sausages contain the same amount of fat as Richmond Sausages that only have 41% pork.

Greenbynature

Reminds me of that old saying about sausages t*ts, lips and ar*eholes lol as in what goes into them!

daniel_owen_uk

Greenbynature wrote: »

Reminds me of that old saying about sausages t*ts, lips and ar*eholes lol as in what goes into them!

You mean that phrase is recommending where to put the sausages?

casper_g

geordie_joe wrote: »

I already have researched it, and can tell you that the "meat content" of a pork sausage can be up to 30% fat and up to 25% connective tissue (i.e., rind, tendon, sinew, skin etc.).

This is the reason Debbie and Andrew can claim their sausages contain 97% pork on the front of the package when the back clearly shows that 22.3% of the sausage is actually fat.

Do you really think that fat shouldn't be counted as meat? By that logic, a piece of belly pork, with no additives or water or whatever would need to be labelled along the lines of "47% meat content". Anyone who doesn't expect meat to contain fat (in varying quantities depending on the cut) shouldn't be allowed to go shopping on their own!

Ezmondino

Yuuuummmm, tendons. Tasty.

dzug1

geordie_joe wrote: »

It's not the amount of meat in a sausage that makes it good, it's the other stuff. Which is better, a sausage that contains 70% meat and 30% "good stuff" such as apple, leek spices etc. or a sausage that is 85% meat and 15% chemicals?

.

Debatable actually - but in any case I suspect you are not going to get a sausage that is 85% meat and 15% chemicals - anyone who is bothering to put that much meat in is going to minimise the chemical content.

geordie_joe

dzug1 wrote: »

anyone who is bothering to put that much meat in is going to minimise the chemical content.

You obviously didn't read the other posts.
Of that 85% meat, 30% of it can be fat and 25% of it can be connective tissue (i.e., rind, tendon, sinew, skin etc.). So 55% of the "meat" doesn't actually have to be meat.

geordie_joe

casper_g wrote: »

Do you really think that fat shouldn't be counted as meat?

The government thinks it shouldn't. That's why it must be listed as a separate ingredient in the nutrition box. It allows 30% of the "meat" to be fat, but you must list how much fat is in the product in the nutrition box.

casper_g wrote: »

By that logic, a piece of belly pork, with no additives or water or whatever would need to be labelled along the lines of "47% meat content".

Just been on the tesco web site, and their belly pork says it contains 26.3% fat.

casper_g wrote: »

Anyone who doesn't expect meat to contain fat (in varying quantities depending on the cut) shouldn't be allowed to go shopping on their own!

I agree with you, but if you read my posts I never said I don't expect meat to contain fat. What I said was they claim the sausage is 97% pork when it contains 22.3% fat and can contain up to 25% connective tissue.

Viper_7

geordie_joe wrote: »

Sorry, no disrespect to you, but the above (highlighted in bold) just annoys me. People hear it, and repeat it without ever thinking what it means.

The percentage of meat in a sausage is not an indication of how good it is. This myth came about because sausage makers started putting cuts of meat into sausages that people had stopped buying, pigs trotters, cheeks, backsides etc. They also made them cheaper by putting more of the cheaper ingredients in, such as rusk and bread crumbs.

It's not the amount of meat in a sausage that makes it good, it's the other stuff. Which is better, a sausage that contains 70% meat and 30% "good stuff" such as apple, leek spices etc. or a sausage that is 85% meat and 15% chemicals?

People have been brainwashed into thinking all sausages contain "rubbish", and the more meat there is in the sausage the less room there is for the rubbish. Therefore the higher the meat content the better the sausage.

This is not always true. Don't look at how much meat is in the sausage, look at what the rest of the sausage is made up of.

True. However based on the original post of the amount of sausage for £1, it is highly unlikely to be a sausage containing other ingredients such as fruit and other quality ingrediants as you state.

Agree it's not always true that the more meat the better the sausage, but it sure is a good starting point when considering "value" sausages. Unless of course one is vegetarian when it becomes a non-starter!

geordie_joe

Viper_7 wrote: »

True. However based on the original post of the amount of sausage for £1, it is highly unlikely to be a sausage containing other ingredients such as fruit and other quality ingrediants as you state.

I agree with that, but my post wasn't in reply to the Op, it was in reply to you saying

"A half decent sausage should be 85%+ meat. With the better ones being 90%+"

A sausage that claims to contain 90% meat can actually contain 45% fat and connective tissue. Would you consider a sausage that contains that much fat and connective tissue to be a half decent sausage?

Viper_7 wrote: »

Agree it's not always true that the more meat the better the sausage, but it sure is a good starting point when considering "value" sausages. Unless of course one is vegetarian when it becomes a non-starter!

It may be a good starting point, but as I said originally it depends on what the rest of the sausage is made up of.

Consider this.

A sausage claims to have 40% pork, and the rest is breadcrumbs. But half of that 40% pork is fat and connective tissue (that's 20% of the sausage). So the sausage contains 20% lean pork, 20% fat and connective tissue and 60% breadcrumbs.

A sausage claims to have 90% pork (and 10% breadcrumbs), half the pork is fat and connective tissue (45%). So this sausage contains 45% lean pork, 45% fat and connective tissue and 10% breadcrumbs.

Which is the best sausage? The first one has less lean meat, but also has less fat and connective tissue. The second one has more lean meat, but also has more fat and connective tissue.

Sorry to go on about it, I just get annoyed at the fact that they can claim to have a meat content when 55% of the meat they claim is in the sausage doesn't actually have to be meat.