UK bangers aren’t a danger… but bratwursts could be!

BRITISH sausages could be better for us than previously thought, a study says.

The World Health Organisation warned two years ago that 0g of processed meat – a sausage a day – could raise risk of bowel cancer by almost a fifth.

But scientists have found the chemicals that contribute to the cancer risk are rarely found in sausages. Of 117 brands researchers looked at, just 3 per cent contained nitrates or nitrites linked to cancer.

The study warns bratwurst-type sausages popular in Germany remain a danger as they use nitrates and nitrites as preservatives. Researcher Dr Marie Cantwell, of Queen’s University in Belfast, told The Sun on Sunday: ‘It is now clear that the British sausage industry is very different. Almost all British-style sausages in the UK do not contain nitrates or nitrites. So they don’t carry the same health risk as other meats that use them in the curing process.’

Nitrate and nitrite salts are one of three agents which make eating too much processed meat such as sausages and burgers a risk. The research – to be published next year – looked at products from 11 major stores to see if the UK sausage industry differed from other countries.

Among the 97 per cent of sausages free of nitrates and nitrites were Tesco Finest, Asda Extra Special and Rankin Selection.