Hands off our snag! The Aussie sausage sanger is under attack

Nutritionists want us to STOP throwing another snag on the barbie and I can’t handle this bad news today. 

That’s right parents, our easy family dinner staple is under attack.

A bunch of nutritionists over at George Institute for Global Health have just revealed that one single sausage on white bread with a smidge of tomato sauce works out to be half the recommend daily salt intake for adults.

Yes, we told them that’s exactly why we like them

Yes, we mentioned the kids love them too, and the secret to making sausages a completely guilt-free dinner all comes down to the plate arrangement. A bit of veg here, a piece of cheese there, a nice spoonful of grains and hurrah – a meal that everyone will eat!

Yeah, we told them about Bunnings too; the guilt-induced pleasure of eating a sausage at 10:30am and still being able to call it a well-balanced family meal.

And the smell of barbequed sausages that permeates the front door of any children’s party or Sunday afternoon sports session worth their, um, salt.

Australians eat 1.1 billion sausages per year

But apparently when it comes to sausages, we eat too many: 1.1 billion every year, in fact. That’s approximately 44 sausages per person, per year. And while every other meat in the supermarket has duly had its salt levels cut, sausages have stayed exactly the way they are for more than a decade.

Plus, an earlier study from this year showed that Australian men were consuming twice as much salt as is recommended by the World Heath Orgainsation.

But before you despair, the news isn’t all bad.

Clare Farrand, head researcher at the George Institute said there is a way we can have our sausage and look after our health too. 

“We know that everybody enjoys a sausage occasionally and we’re not by any means telling people not to eat sausages — we are encouraging people to check the label and try and choose the lower-salt option,” said Clare.

With that in mind, Clare also suggests we rustle up a good dose of vegetables, along with our barbeque feast and opt for chicken and steak just as often as the humble snag. 

Healthier ways to BBQ

• Try lean meats like chicken breast and steak on the barbecue
• Fill the barbecue with vegetables like corn on the cob, eggplant, mushrooms, capsicum and onion.
• Eat more fresh foods, reduce your reliance on processed foods
• Look for the sodium levels labelled on packaged foods
• Be aware of portion size

This article originally appeared on Kinderling. Listen to Kinderling Conversation every weekday from 12pm for more great stories.