Editing Sausage (section)

==Ingredients==
[[File:Grinners breakfast.jpg|thumb|Full Scottish breakfast: [[black pudding]], [[Lorne sausage]], toast, fried mushrooms and baked beans]]
A sausage consists of meat cut into pieces or ground, mixed with other ingredients, and filled into a casing. Ingredients may include a cheap [[starch]] filler such as breadcrumbs or grains, seasoning and flavourings such as spices, and sometimes others such as apple and leek.<ref name="beebswozzle">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/pork_sausages BBC: Pork sausage recipes] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131226151803/http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/pork_sausages|date=26 December 2013}}. "The meat may be mixed with breadcrumbs, cereals or other ingredients such as leek or apple."</ref> The meat may be from any animal but is often pork, beef or [[veal]], or poultry. The lean meat-to-fat [[ratio]] depends upon the style and producer. The meat content as labelled may exceed 100%, which happens when the weight of meat exceeds the total weight of the sausage after it has been made, sometimes including a drying process which reduces water content.

In some jurisdictions foods described as sausages must meet regulations governing their content. For example, in the United States, the [[United States Department of Agriculture|Department of Agriculture]] specifies that the fat content of different defined types of sausage may not exceed 30%, 35% or 50% by weight; some sausages may contain binders or extenders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/9CF319.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071219033648/http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/9CF319.html|archive-date=19 December 2007|title=USDA Standards of Identity; see Subparts E, F and G}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title9-vol2/pdf/CFR-2012-title9-vol2-part319.pdf|title=PART 319—DEFINITIONS AND STANDARDS OF IDENTITY OR COMPOSITION, parts E, F, and G|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140112205028/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2012-title9-vol2/pdf/CFR-2012-title9-vol2-part319.pdf|archive-date=12 January 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Many traditional styles of sausage from Asia and mainland Europe use no bread-based filler and include only meat (lean meat and fat) and flavorings.<ref>''Joy of Cooking'', Rombauer and Becker; ''The Fine Art of Italian Cooking'', Bugialli</ref> In the United Kingdom and other countries with [[English cuisine]] traditions, many sausages contain a significant proportion of bread and starch-based fillers, which may comprise 30% of ingredients. The filler in many sausages helps them to keep their shape as they are cooked. As the meat contracts in the heat, the filler expands and absorbs moisture and fat from the meat.<ref name=beebbanger>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2284846.stm|title=What's in the great British banger?|date=27 September 2002|via=news.bbc.co.uk|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227173620/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2284846.stm|archive-date=27 December 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

When the food processing industry produces sausages for a low [[price point]], almost any part of the animal can end up in sausages, varying from cheap, fatty specimens stuffed with meat blasted off the carcasses ([[mechanically recovered meat]], MRM) and [[rusk]]. On the other hand, the finest quality contain only choice cuts of meat and seasoning.<ref name=beebswozzle/> In Britain, "meat" declared on labels could in the past include fat, connective tissue, and MRM. These ingredients may still be used but must be labelled as such, and up to 10% water may be included without being labelled.<ref name=beebbanger/>