More banger for your buck! How supermarkets' own brand sausages have more meat than their expensive rivals
Cheap supermarket sausages can give shoppers 'more banger for their buck' compared to big brands costing much more, it is claimed.
A study by consumer experts at Which? found the Sainsbury’s Basics range pack of pork sausages contains 42per cent meat, which is the same as Richmond thick pork sausages.
However, the big brand version costs three times more at £2.40 versus just 80p.
Bang out of order: Sainsbury's Basics sausages for 80p contain the same amount of meat as Richmond thick sausages, which is three times as expensive at £2.40Which? also found that a shopper prepared to pay £2.99 for a pack of Sainsbury’ s premium range pork sausages – 59p more than the Richmond brand - would get 97per cent meat.
Researchers also found a similar pattern with burgers, which are particularly popular as the country enters the barbecue season.
More... Scared to eat food past its use-by date? Read on before you chuck it out... The bugs you'll love to sink your teeth into: Brilliantly realistic looking slugs, leeches and worms made from chocolate Childhood diabetes could be triggered by an infectious disease spread by wild animals Meat feast: Sainsbury's premium range sausages for £2.99 contain 97 per cent meat at only 59p more than the big brandFor example, Birds Eye Original beef burgers cost £8.30 per kg yet only contain 77per cent meat, while Tesco’s quarter pound beef burgers are 90per cent beef and cost £6.12 per kg.
The recent horsemeat food fraud scandal has turned the spotlight on just what goes in to the nation’s processed meat products, with many people changing their diets.
At the same time, some eight in ten shoppers now check the ingredients in the hope of getting some reassurance on the ingredients.
Currently, there are strict rules about what goes into a sausage or burger with minimum limits for meat content to ensure shoppers are not misled.
For example, anything claiming to be a pork sausage must be a minimum of 42per cent pork meat.
Other products can be called simply a ‘sausage’ if it contains at least 32per cent pork, at least 30per beef or lamb, or at least 26per cent chicken.
Despite the recent horsemeat scandal, Which? complained that the UK government is currently trying to push through a weakening of labelling rules, which includes decriminalising food labelling violations.
As a result, rogues who decided to con the public with suspect food labels and ingredients will face much weaker sanctions, if any.
Not packing much: Birds Eye Original beef burgers contain 77per cent meat compared to Tesco's beef burgers' 90 per cent, yet is still £2.18 more per kgWhich? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: ‘We want mislabelling to remain a criminal offence, even more so after the horsemeat scandal, so those responsible for misleading consumers can be held to account.’
He added: ‘Branded goods don’t always provide the best value for money, as we’ ve found shoppers can get more banger for their buck by choosing supermarket own-brand sausages.
‘It’s important that people know what they’re getting so they can make an informed choice.
‘In the wake of the horsemeat scandal, we want the Government to think again over their plans to decriminalise food labelling offences to help restore trust in the food industry.’