# What's in sausages, meat pies, pet food, etc? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2001, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731 "2001-08-10T05:40:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/1 "2001-08-10T05:40:54Z")
Hi, I was wondering if people know of reliable information about what’s in sausages, meat pies, etc… I mean if they have sawdust, intestines (for the covering of sausages), pig’s trotters, tongues, brains, offal, skin, blood, bones, etc? And are there standards for the maximum amount of offal/sawdust you can put in the “meat”? Also, what about pet food? And what about at various times in history? (Maybe they used to use lots of sawdust in the “meat” in wartime) I’d like as detailed information as possible. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/2 "2001-08-10T06:18:58Z")
Damn, why couldn’t you have asked about hot dogs, like any decent newbie. I could’ve read off the ingredients list and we’d be fine. But I don’t _buy_ sausages. I did a google search on “sausage ingredient” and found: [Peer Foods Premium Pork Sausage Specifications](http://www.peerfoods.com/mariahsmokedsausage.html) which says: **Ingredient Statement:** Pork, water, beef, salt, dextrose, flavorings, corn syrup solids, monosodium glutamate, sodium ascorbate, sodium nitrite That’s for smoked sausage. There’s a link on that page to [http://www.peerfoods.com/sausage.htm](http://www.peerfoods.com/sausage.htm) which lists Peer Foods’ other sausage products. Here’s the ingredient statement for [pork sausage](http://www.peerfoods.com/pmsaus.htm): Pork, water, salt, brown sugar, dextrose, spices, natural flavorings, b.h.t., propyl gallate, citric acid Here’s a site about [sausage making](http://user.mc.net/arf/saus.htm). There’s a link on this page to a mailing list about sausage that might be helpful. Oh, [this site](http://www.boschs.org/articles/reviews/johnsonville.shtml) doesn’t say much about ingredients, but it’s amusing. [Johnsonville.com](http://www.johnsonville.com) gives this disappointing answer in their FAQs: “Unfortunately, the process and the recipe for Johnsonville Bratwurst is a secret family recipe that we are unable to share. However, there are many recipe books that provide recipes for sausage. Another option, is to visit your local library or bookstore and look for books on the topic of “meat science” or “meat processing”.” I tried to use their **Contact Us** page, but I had problems loading it. Finally, from [this ingredient list](http://www.pizzahut.com/menu/nutrition/Ingredients.htm) for pizza toppings: > [@](#): > > **Pork Topping** (Comment from Kat: which normal people might call “sausage”): Pork, water, textured soy protein concentrate, soy protein concentrate, salt, spices, sodium phosphate, sugar, hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat protein, dried pork and beef stock, natural and artificial flavorings, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate, BHA, BHT, Citric acid. > > **Italian Sausage** : Pork, water, spices, salt, paprika, sugar, flavorings, BHA, BHT, citric acid. HTH! ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/3 "2001-08-10T06:27:38Z")
Here’s a good site for pet food: [http://www.petfoodreport.com/](http://www.petfoodreport.com/) ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/4 "2001-08-10T06:50:59Z")
Kat: I’m not interested in the chemicals, just things like sawdust and “animal by-products”. The sausage making site said: “My favorites are sheep casings for breakfast sausage and brats, hog casings for Polish, fibrous casings for summer sausage and beef middles for salami. The choices are endless and only with experience can one decide what works best for him.” It didn’t say what part of the animal casings are exactly… maybe it is the intestines or something? It also talks about “pork liver, pork hearts and pork…stuffed into beef middles” kniz: Thanks for the link. This part got me thinking: > [@](#): > > Question > What are by-products? > > Answer > By-products, simply put, are the parts of animals people do not normally eat. For example, if a chicken were raised for its white meat then the remaining meat would be considered a by-product. The question is, what do they mean by “meat”? Does it mean ALL of the left-overs? (Skin, blood, hair, bone, fat, eyes, grisle, organs, etc?) ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2001, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/5 "2001-08-10T07:02:31Z")
Sausages are like Chinese food. You don’t analyze it, you just eat it! And yes, to confirm your suspicion, “byproducts” includes lips, ears and assholes. Basically it’s anything you can chew that’s not desirable with a label on it naming it for what it really is. And I could swear there was a thread talking about mechanically deboned chicken, but I can’t find it. But I did find [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=6312) on sausages. ---
**Author:** ![JohnClay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c37758/32.png) [@JohnClay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnClay)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2001, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/6 "2001-08-11T11:12:55Z")
That thread is cool… thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Yersinia\_Pestis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ccd318/32.png) [@Yersinia\_Pestis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yersinia_Pestis)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/7 "2001-08-12T05:21:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bughunter \* > \*\*And I could swear there was a thread talking about mechanically deboned chicken, but I can’t find it. > > \*\* Here you go: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68950](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68950) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/8 "2001-08-12T05:41:37Z")
Well, if sausage is in sausage links, and meat is in meat pies, then I suppose it follows that pets are in pet food. All those poor strays. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/9 "2001-08-12T11:29:23Z")
It was announced here in the UK this week that mechanically recovered meat that may have contained Mad Cow disease was used to make pies , sausages etc back in the 80’s. Some of this food was used for school meals. Veggy-burger anyone?. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@The\_Bitterdrunk\_Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bitterdrunk_Kid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/10 "2001-08-12T12:17:01Z")
I can’t vouch for commercial sausages, but I’m a farmer who raises hogs, and we have a hog butchered every once in a while. What usually goes into that sausage is not the disgusting stuff, but just the rest of the good meat left over after they get all of the good cuts off of the carcass. I don’t think a lot of butchers use the intestines for the casing any more. I think it’s a thin plastic of some kind. ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/11 "2001-08-12T16:18:26Z")
These days, I think they’re mostly celluose. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/12 "2001-08-12T20:35:35Z")
In James Michener’s novel **Poland** there is a description of a woman making sausage. It is very interesting and tells you more about why sausage came about. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/13 "2001-08-12T20:54:50Z")
I know someone who works in a meatpacking plant. He says hot dogs are made from **TT&A** - **T** its, **T** ails, and **A** ssholes. Just thought I’d throw that in. ---
**Author:** ![Carina42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/439d5e/32.png) [@Carina42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carina42)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2001, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-in-sausages-meat-pies-pet-food-etc/75731/14 "2001-08-12T21:43:31Z")
I replied with a fairly eloquent & well researched post but it disappeared into the mists of cyberspace. The short version: I hauled meat OTR for three years. What I saw in “combos” (miscellaneous meat containers bound for sausage factories & Swansons) made me never eat commercially prepared meat products again. Ever. Do a Google search on keywords “dogs cats rendered.” I posted several (I think) authoritative & scholarly non-radical, non commercial links in resonse to the pet industry fluff piece posted above. Yes, Fluffy, Fido & worse end up in Dog Chow. No, I do not feed my animals mass produced commercial kibble. Bon appetite. 🙂