Sausages... Do you feed them to your kids?!

[DGGR]

Sounds silly I know...
But after seeing processed red meat as a class 1 carcinogen (Who grading) I keep feeling so guilty every time my son eats them. But they're his favourite food!
I've stopped buying them in the regular shop because I know he has them at school and with grandparents so he eats them at least once a week.
I follow some 'health influencers' who don't agree with it based on 'healthy' countries like Spain also consuming a lot of red processed meat.
But it's in my kids school dinner menu, along with ham. And all parents I know seem to feed it to their kids regularly. So I was wondering what others thought based on the fact its potentially really unhealthy.

Thanks

I think it's recommended once a week for processed meats. I agree op. I do buy them in but feed them to the kids maybe twice a month because I know they get them at school etc.

That's bacon and other processed meats too

Isn’t pork a white meat? (Assuming it’s pork sausages and not beef ones)

I thought it was salami and hot dog type sausages that were considered carcinogen ic and not your Richmond types. I thought it was to do with the preservation techniques???

Isn’t pork a white meat? (Assuming it’s pork sausages and not beef ones)

No, pork is classed as a red meat. Sausages are bad news anyway because they are processed meat. We still eat them though!

It’s the nitrates that are the problem.. For my kids I buy chicken sausages or the Naked ones.

It varies, proper sausages sold raw are ok, just check the ingredients.

Decent pork sausages hand are just diced pork, rusk, maybe some herbs & pepper. Pork isn't a red meat. Do you have a local butcher that makes their own sausages? Go and see the sausages being made and there's nothing harmful in them.

The damaging ones are salami, pepperoni, meat that has been cured or preserved in some way.

I thought it was salami and hot dog type sausages that were considered carcinogen ic and not your Richmond types. I thought it was to do with the preservation techniques???

Nope. Apparently eating too mych red or processed meat causes approx 18% of bowel cancer cases.

From an NHS hospital website: "Processed meat refers to any meat that has been preserved by smoking, curing, salting or using preservatives. This includes sausages, ham, bacon, salami, pate, and canned meat such as corned beef. It may also include other meats such as sliced luncheon meat made from white meat, such as chicken and turkey."

Is there not nitrates in chicken sausages then, what about turkey?

Could you try swapping them out for a veggie sausage the quorn and cauldron ones are really good.

Chicken sausages are nearly as good as pork ones.

Yes I do but starting to become more mindful and buying less.

Yes.

It worth the worry tbh. Ds didn't grow up on crappy Richmond ones, bit proper ones.

And besides if the Richmond crappy ones were the sausages eaten around a good diet...then it's not an issue.

They're targeting families where kids are eating a daily diet that might look like Coco pops for breakfast, sent I to school with billy bear ham sandwich in cheap bread, an ambient chocolate filled "croissant", a pack of Doritos and a peperami, and had 2 turkey dinosaurs, 6 potato smiles and a Peppa Pig spaghetti can, followed by a twix for dinner.

Not the kid who had porridge with blueberries and a glass of milk for breakfast, pasta salad, an apple and cheese for lunch and then had roast chicken with salad and rice for dinner followed by a satsuma.

Of course I do, it's a straightforward unfussy food. What's in them except pork, rusk and seasoning? Uses up all the parts of the pig too.
I can't get my head around wanting to eat the highly processed vegetarian version (and quorn gives us all the shits).

I make my own. Sounds poncy af but really, it’s an afternoon once a month. I buy organic pork from my butcher (fatty belly and some shoulder) and season it myself without nitrates.

I have a Kitchenaid and grind the meat and then use the sausage stuffer. Dd thinks it’s absolutely hilarious and eats them all up.

They freeze really well and cook straight from frozen.

I guess it depends on whether you are buying good quality sausages, or UPF versions full of crud! I accept that the food at school is cheap rubbish, and make sure what we have at home is good quality

We eat veggie ones and they are good, your son would probably like them. I wouldn’t want to feed them too many meat sausages but they do eat sausage rolls sometimes when out.

It's fine if they're from a butcher. But if not I'd still give my son them

I would never give my son a fake sausages. I wouldn't have one myself. Prefer a proper sausage.

Oh cool, just one afternoon a month. And a gadget that costs more than my car

My son eats 2 every day for his packed lunch at school, I didn't realise they were that bad. My son is autistic and has extreme sensitivity to taste and texture, so his diet is very limited. He won't eat any other sausages. Are they really that bad? 😳

Butcher British style raw sausages are not cured or preserved in any way. They’re just minced up meat. Processed but not ultra processed. Definitely not the type classified as grade 1 carcinogen.

Yes but we only eat them a couple time a month and buy from a butchers who makes his own.

I don't buy sausages very often, possible 3/4 times a year., then I check the label for the highest percentage of meat I can find on the sausages on the shelf. Don't bother with bacon very often either, sometimes for a pasta meal. Vegetarian sausages are still processed so avoid them.

If I ca avoid the risk foods for cancer as much as possible, hopefully it will help. There are so many foods that are delicious and not risks - is it worth it?