Anna Shepard, Eco Worrier

Whether it’s bratwurst in Berlin, chorizo in Mexico or merguez in North Africa, there are few foods as universally popular as the sausage. According to Homer’s reckoning, Odysseus the King of Ithaca, dined on goat bangers (“sizzling here in the fire … packed with fat and blood to have for supper”), while centuries later Queen Victoria claimed the dish as one of her favourites, although she apparently insisted the meat in her sausages was chopped by hand rather than minced.

In the UK, almost three billion sausages are now consumed each year, and bangers and mash remains a quintessential British dish, one that is as popular with fussy chefs serving it with oriental spiced cabbage and sweet chilli sauce as it is with time-pushed families, or anyone who yearns for traditional, quick-to-make comfort food. And yet, as our interest in animal welfare, sustainability and healthy eating has grown, we’ve become increasingly suspicious about the humble sausage. Are they just too tasty, too salty, too convenient, to be good for us?

Earlier this year, a Harvard study of more than a million people found that eating just 50g of processed meat a day raises your risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, and blamed the salt, preservatives and nitrates used in the process for the health problems. A similar report by the World Cancer Research Fund two years ago claimed that eating one sausage a day could raise your risk of bowel cancer by 20 percent. Meanwhile, Jamie Oliver’s schools crusade ended with sausages being restricted and caterers only allowed to serve them twice a month.  TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST, VISIT TIMESONLINE