For this low fat v original taste test, we put pork sausages up against a 'half fat' version. Which came out on top?
Sausages: Waitrose premium pork sausages v Waitrose half-fat extra lean premium pork sausages
The difference: the regular sausages are 18.2% fat (of which 7.8% are saturates) while the reduced fat version is 8.2% fat (of which 3.7% are saturates). That’s a hefty difference, and one which you would expect to affect the taste significantly. There are added ingredients in the low fat sausage, including tapioca starch.
The test: six tasters tested the two varieties. They were not told beforehand what the difference between the varieties was, so it was a completely blind test.
The result: low fat wins. According to most, the lower fat saussies had ‘more flavour’, were ‘a bit moister’, and ‘the herbs were easier to detect’. The two people who preferred the original sausages did so due to their ‘texture’ and ‘meaty bite’.
Conclusion: you can save yourself an awful lot of saturated fat with an extra lean sausage – and the ingredients are essentially the same. Because they won our taste test, we definitely wouldn’t say no to buying them again in the future.
See all of our low fat v original taste tests
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