Wendyl wants to know: Fake grill marks aside, you could throw these sausages on the summer barbecue

Hellers Cheese and Bacon Sausages $10.99 for 1kg

Barbecue season is here and therefore sausages are on the menu. Sausages like these are popular at most barbecues, according to my daughter, and they are easy to grab and run. But they do come with some added extras such as preservatives, colours and fillers.

Hellers Cheese and Bacon Sausages $10.99 for 1kg

Meat (50%) (chicken, pork, beef, lamb, venison)
The legal definition of a sausage is that it contains 50% meat, so these are definitely sausages. You also have the added benefit of bacon which takes up a further 19% of this sausage (see below).The meat combination is interesting simply because there's a lot going on there.

Bacon (19%) [pork (74%), water, salt, modified starch (1442), dextrose, sugar, acidity regulator (325, 262), mineral salts (451, 452, 450, 500), thickener (407), antioxidant (316), preservative (250), yeast extract]
These are normal ingredients for bacon. The modified starch is acetylated distarch adipate (1422) which is a treated starch, the acidity regulators are sodium lactate (325) and sodium acetate (262) which are both natural ingredients. The mineral salts are diphosphates (450, 451, 452) and sodium bicarbonate or baking soda (500). The thickener is carrageenan (407) which is a gel obtained from seaweed, the antioxidant is sodium erythorbate (316) which is produced from beetroot and sugarcane. The preservative is sodium nitrite (250) which is used to inhibit the growth of bacteria in bacon. There is some concern that it reacts with stomach acid to form carcinogenic compounds during digestion so some bacon manufacturers are using alternatives.

Water

Cheese (5%) [pasteurised milk, rennet, culture, salt, water, milk solids, mineral salts (450, 452), preservative (200)]
These are standard ingredients for cheese. The mineral salts are diphosphates (as above) and the preservative is sorbic acid (200) which is a natural ingredient.

Tapioca starch
This is otherwise known as arrowroot and will be in here as a thickener.

Salt

Toasted soy grits

I've never come across these before. Basically they are soybeans ground into grits (flakes) and then toasted to give flavour. They are commonly used to add protein to products like this and give texture. You'll get 15.9g of protein per two sausages or 125g.

Soy protein

This will also be in the sausages to add protein.

Dextrose
This is a form of sugar. There is only 1.8g of sugar per two sausages.

Mineral salt (451)

As above.

Preservative (223)
This is sodium metabisulphite (223) which should be avoided by those allergic to sulphur.

Antioxidant (316)
This is sodium erythorbate (316) - see above.

Spice extracts

Yeast extract
This will be to add a meaty flavour to the sausages.

Soybean oil

Natural smoke flavour
Good to see natural smoke flavour in here rather than something artificial.

Edible casing (beef)
These casings are made from beef which is great. Traditionally they would be intestines but they can also be made out of collagen, cellulose and in some cases plastic - although those are not normally edible and are used for goods like salami which are peeled off.

Colour (100, 155, 160b)
Good to see some natural colours used here. They are turmeric (100) and annatto (160b). Annatto is made from the seed coating of the Annatto tree. Some people have allergic reactions to this. The other colour is Brown HT (155) which is not used in the US because it can cause allergic reactions but it is allowed here and in the European Union. You can see brown marks on the sausages which I presume are supposed to resemble grill marks made on a sausage when it is cooked on a barbecue. In my opinion this seems unnecessary.

Highlights
• Uses added colour to create fake grill marks, one of which is not used in the United States.
• Has sodium nitrite which some people avoid.
• Uses chicken, pork, beef, lamb and venison.

My recommendations:
If you're looking for a bag of sausages to take to a barbecue then these aren't a bad option, but if you can afford a bit more and take a bit more time it would be better to find a sausage which is mainly meat. Try to avoid added colour - meat is meat coloured so if there's plenty in there you shouldn't need to colour it. Also the addition of bacon brings with it the preservative sodium nitrite which some people need to avoid.

The good news is that these are gluten free - as the extra padding required in a processed sausage is provided by soybeans not breadcrumbs.

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