I'm not saying that the report isn't valid, but it starts with the position of wanting to persuade hornery butchers to do something differently, a difficult task no doubt! It then uses the taste tests to support its own position.
For example it ignores the fact that people said that sausage made the old way had twice the flavour saying that this just refers to the strength of taste not the depth. Sorry, twice the flavour is still no good?
It's aim is to make preservatives more effective - I don't know any home producers that use these. It's aim is to get salt levels below 1.4% - the majority of ours are well below this without difficulty.
They've missed that the easy way to make good sausage is to allow the myosin to develop naturally by adding the salt to the diced meat the night before grinding. I'm currently working on a number of recipes to remove the salt from the spice block so that it can be calculated/applied separately.
I guess I'm agreeing with its ethos, I must be as I'm doing what they set out to achieve already, it's just that I prefer our way of achieving it rather than theirs.
This is part of an FSA campaign. Why they're targeting smaller butchers is anyone's guess it's their buddies in the multinationals they need to be speaking to. The best selling UK sausage has 2.2gm per 100g cooked product. Getting Irish food giant Kerry foods to alter this would have a major effect overnight... ...but do they? Do they squat!
A simple regulation added to food laws would solve this overnight if the will was there, no need for all these fancy schemes.
Phil