Guide
Allergens in sausage meat
UK sausage meat usually contains wheat, because of rusk. Many mixes also contain sulphites and some contain soya. A gluten-free sausage is a different mix. The pastry around a sausage roll does not replace the meat’s own allergens.
Reviewed against official guidance.SourcesNot legal advice.
The usual pattern
The mix is pork, rusk, water, seasoning and often metabisulphite. Rusk is wheat. Seasoning may include celery, mustard or barley from yeast extract. Lamb and beef sausages need their own specs.
What to check in sausage meat
| What you see | What it means on a PPDS label |
|---|---|
| Rusk | Wheat — cereals containing gluten |
| Sulphites in the preservative | Sulphur dioxide, when above 10 mg/kg |
| Soya protein in some mixes | Soya |
| Gluten-free sausage | No wheat rusk — only if that mix says so |
How to write it on the label
PPDS food needs the name of the food and a full ingredients list, with the 14 allergens emphasised every time they appear. The Food Standards Agency’s PPDS guidance is the practical reference. A typical ingredients fragment looks like this — yours must follow the specification of the product you actually use.
Example fragment
Pork, water, wheat rusk, salt, spices, preservative: sodium metabisulphite.
Where it shows up
Sausage rolls, scotch eggs, stuffing, toad-in-the-hole filling and breakfast baps.
A gluten-free roll with ordinary sausage meat
Changing the pastry and not the meat leaves wheat in the product.
Declare sulphites when the finished food is at or above 10 mg/kg. Your supplier should state the level. Do not invent a number.
Specification first
Brands differ. Treat this page as the usual pattern, then match the label to the tub, bag or recipe in front of you.
Questions
Is rusk wheat?
Do all sausages contain sulphites?
Official sources
Everything on this page traces back to these. Where they and we disagree, they are right — tell us and we'll fix it.
- Introduction to allergen labelling for PPDS foodFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
- Labelling guidance for prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) food productsFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK
- Food allergen labelling and information requirements technical guidanceFood Standards Agency / GOV.UK