What’s In Your Sausage?

Researchers call it alarming. A study at University of Guelph – commissioned by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency – found off-label ingredients in sausages they collected from grocery stores across Canada. It found pork in some of the all-beef sausages, turkey and beef some in some of the chicken sausages, five of the 15 turkey sausages they tested had no turkey at all in them (they were entirely chicken) and one of the pork sausages contained horse meat. One-in-five sausages tested had off-label ingredients in them. The study was requested after the 2013 European horse meat scandal, where food labelled as beef was found to have horse meat. The 20 per cent mislabelling rate is low compared to Europe, where studies have found 70 per cent of samples contained ingredients that were not declared. The CFIA has investigated all instances of mislabelled sausages discovered. It is considering a broader study on the issue.