Hungarians Love Wiener Sausages, but Many Do Not Know What They Are Made of

MTI-Hungary Today 2023.08.01.

95 percent of Hungarians regularly eat wiener sausages or wieners (often called frankfurters as well), but a quarter of them are not at all aware of what they are made of, according to a representative survey by PICK Szeged Zrt, a Hungarian food company.

According to the survey, 77 percent of the respondents do not look at product ingredients, while 49 percent choose a reliable brand, and 39 percent specifically look for frankfurters made from high-quality ingredients. The research also found that people aged 60 and over are the most conscious when it comes to buying frankfurters – more than 40 percent buy a trusted, familiar brand off the shelf that they know the ingredients of.

Half of shoppers are aware that the Hungarian Food Codex requires wiener sausages to have a minimum meat content of 51 percent, but with a wide range of meat content levels above the limit, 29 percent of respondents do not know which product to trust.

Photo: Pexels

However, it is important to know that not all wiener-type meat products meet the quality standard requirements, so not all are actually wieners.

According to the standard, the meat content must not exceed 10 percent of the meat mechanically separated from the bones and the diameter of the product must not exceed 26 millimeters, said Adrienn Haluska, Director of Operational Quality Management and Product Development at PICK (Bonafarm Zrt.). She added that the standard also sets out a number of other quality and organoleptic requirements, so it is important to look at the label and the description of the product and to choose a wiener based on this.

Fact

Those products that do not have at least 51 percent of meat content, cannot be called wiener sausages – instead, they are usually referred to as “sticks.” Hungarians should look out for the quality of their food in buffets, although a recent inspection by the National Food Chain Safety Office found that the use of so-called “imitation” products did not exceed the national level of 40-60 percent in the inspected buffets. However, where ‘sticks’ were substituted for sausages, consumers were not properly informed.

The survey also showed that

60 percent of the Hungarian population eat frankfurters once a month on average, while 35 percent eat them every week or two.

Eight percent of respondents choose based on appearance, while 14 percent look to make their purchase as budget-friendly as possible and are not interested in the ingredients. However, PICK Szeged pointed out that it is worth being aware that higher prices for products tend to reflect higher quality.

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Via MTI, Featured photo via Pexels