The truth about those (fatty) sausages

The bad news, just in time for the barbecue season: some sausages contain fat the size of a golf ball.

Elizabeth Stewart, an Auckland District Health Board nutritionist, surveyed the amount of fat in basic pork and beef-flavoured sausages sold in Auckland and which make up 80 per cent of the market.

Mad Butcher sausages, which averaged 12 per cent fat, had the lowest amount.

Vienna brand sausages, which had 18.5 to 19.7 per cent fat, were next, followed by Leonards, with 24 to 26 per cent.

But before you celebrate with a fry-up, the tested sausages averaged about 21 per cent fat - "or an average of four teaspoons of fat in each", said Elizabeth Stewart. Pre-cooked sausages were no better.

"The main disadvantage of sausages is the high fat content. They should not be eaten more than once a week because of that, and then preferably with vegetables and potatoes, pasta or rice."

Her study aimed to check that sausages met New Zealand food regulations - no more than 30 per cent fat, at least 11 per cent protein, and at least 75 per cent meat.

Four of the samples did not meet the protein requirement, she said, "probably from insufficient meat".

One manufacturer's snags contained a whopping 29.4 per cent fat. Public health protection officers were now working with the company to help it lower that figure, she said.

"If one manufacturer can get his to 12 per cent, I bet the others can. Manufacturers should try to reduce the fat content of their sausages - even a small reduction would have a big effect on the fat consumed by New Zealanders."

But she said that until the Australia-NZ Food Standards Code was introduced next year, fat content labelling for sausages was voluntary.

Elizabeth Stewart said present food regulations did require makers of pre-packed sausages to include a list of ingredients from greatest to least, but consumers were otherwise in the dark.

She recommended that people grill, barbecue or bake sausages rather than fry them.

The 1997 National Nutrition Survey of adults found that 31 per cent of New Zealanders ate sausages at least once a week.

Aucklanders were estimated to consume 50.8 million sausages every year.