At The New Zealand Casings Co we always say ‘never trust a straight sausage’. That’s because if your sausage doesn’t smile, its made from a collagen casing. Collagen Casings are made from the highly processed hides of cattle or hogs and typically contain lots of yucky stuff like sodium carboxymethylcellulose, mineral oil (otherwise known as liquid paraffin, a highly refined by-product of petroleum distillation) and ammonium hydroxide. The result is a collagen casing with a wall like soft plastic which means they don’t breathe in any of those beautiful BBQ flavours and aromoa’s or match the much revered ‘snap’ of a natural casing. So don’t be a silly sausage, choose a natural casing.