Whey forward for the Irish sausage

THE nation's healthy eaters will soon be able to partake of the traditional Irish sausage and beefburger without fears of the usual high fat content.

An international research team, co-ordinated by Teagasc's National Food Centre in Co Dublin, unveiled the new versions yesterday. The three-year development programme concluded with the promise of a taste every bit as good as the traditional variety.

The breakthrough brings the prospect of an end to advocates of healthy eating frowning on the consumption of such products, not to mention such high-calorie horrors as frankfurters, salamis and bolognas. Nutritionists considered them not good for the girth, so they were always the first to be excluded from any dietary regime.

On show was a range of meat products with less than half their usual fat content. In the case of burgers the content was reduced from 25 to under 10 per cent fat.

"We think this has immense commercial potential. We got into this project because fat is bad news. Once the costs can be got right, you will see the products on the supermarket shelves," explained Dr Paul Allen, who coordinated the research.

In the past, any low-fat meat was invariably associated with a loss of flavour and, perhaps more significantly, diminished juiciness. The secret in this breakthrough is the development of a range of, whey protein concentrates. The Irish co-operative, Dairygold, developed these constituents, while research teams in UCC and Queen's University, Belfast, with an input from institutions in Italy and Spain, incorporated them into the new low-fat product versions.

The combination of the whey with leaner trimmings used to make the sausages and burgers has succeeded in dramatically reducing the fat content, but in retaining the juiciness so crucial to flavour.