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Video. What is hidden in the skin of industrial sausages

2021-06-04T11:02:52.793Z


FOOD CHECKING. Oddly, the ingredient lists of many supermarket sausages, like Justin Bridou and Cochonou, don't provide


“I wouldn't eat the skin of this product,” says Eric Ospital, grinding the outer shell of a Cochonou brand dry sausage. It must certainly be made with an artificial gut, and I don't eat artificial gut. This Basque butcher has an eye. But the average consumer, him, has something to be lost since, in no place, the packaging of the product does not mention the nature of the casing, natural or artificial, used for its manufacture. Not even where you'd expect it most: the list of ingredients. "Me, I make my sausages with a natural casing", explains Eric Ospital before leading us to the reserve where he stores his pork casings. He cleans them, prepares his stuffing, applies the hose to the end of his "embosser",the machine that allows him to fill the casing with freshly minced meat: it is so fragile that it breaks at the slightest mistake.

For the demonstration, he also got an artificial hose: it looks like a transparent plastic bag.

"The advantage is that it is more solid and that it costs half the price of a natural casing", explains the professional.

After parboiling and drying, the skin of its sausages and dry sausages sticks to the flesh, while that of Cochonou dry sausage is less interdependent.

“These two products have nothing to do with it,” comments Eric Ospital.

"Remove the skin before consumption", it is written in small print

In the sausage section of supermarkets, you will notice something surprising. As we have seen, Cochonou's dry sausage does not display the slightest mention of the nature of the casing. Neither does Justin Bridou's Shepherd's Stick - but he specifies, rather clearly, under the list of ingredients: “Remove the skin before consumption. "The Shepherd's Stick," chewable ", explicitly announces that the envelope is made of collagen, a protein also used for example for anti-wrinkles. Finally, the red label dry sausage from the Monoprix Gourmet brand is made with a "natural pork casing".

In order to see more clearly, we called the general delegate of the inter-profession of industrial pork butchers, the FICT. Fabien Castanier refers to European regulation N ° 1169/2011: “It defines, on the one hand, that a list of ingredients must be indicated on the labeling of any product; and, on the other hand, that if the husk is not edible it is not considered an ingredient but it must be labeled. The statements “Do not consume the envelope” or “Remove the envelope before consumption” are appropriate statements. "Let's take a closer look at Cochonou's dry sausage ... At the bottom of the package, far from the list of ingredients, but close to the expiration date, we find written in small letters:" Remove the skin before consumption " . This information could have been more visible.

No certainty about the impact on health

To check if there is a difference in taste, we subjected a chef to an exercise that should not be repeated at home: tasting blindly the skins of the four sausages we just mentioned.

“She's tough… She's really tough…” says, blindfolded, the Best Worker in France Andrée Rosier, at the head of the restaurant Les Rosiers, in Biarritz, about the Bâton de berger à croquer.

“It's thick too, but less,” she comments of the regular Shepherd's Staff.

“I don't have that chewy, chewy side,” she notes after testing Monoprix Gourmet with natural pork casing.

And the last one, Cochonou's dry sausage?

"So here, we are back on a rubber".

Monoprix gourmet wins the ranking with its dry sausage in natural casing (€ 22.18 / kg).

After that ?

Justin Bridou's Shepherd's Stick (17.56 € / kg), the Chewable Shepherd's Stick (€ 20.56) then Cochonou's dry sausage (€ 16.76 / kg).

The last three produced by the same company, the Aosta group, which after tasting told us that the casings of its sausages were all artificial.

But does this represent a problem for the health of the consumer?

When contacted, the French health agency, ANSES, replied that its "specialist scientists have not identified any relevant information in the guide to good hygiene practices for the sector".

We also contacted the European Commission, at the origin of the “Consumer information” regulation cited by the representative of the inter-professional organization.

The answer came after we finalized the editing of our video report, but here it is all the same here: "The fact of suggesting not to eat (an) artificial gut is because they are rather 'indigestible' and hard to chew. but not a possible health risk. We can still draw two conclusions. First, if on the label you do not see any mention of the casing, then remove the skin. Then, if the ingredient, natural or not, is well indicated, then it's up to you: it's just a matter of taste.

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2021-06-04

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