Jason and the mystery of the pigs in blankets

We recently had an email from Jason regarding two kinds of own-brand bacon-wrapped sausage (pigs in blankets, if you prefer) that are available in Sainsbury's. He wrote:

One is 37cal per roll and shows as red on the traffic light system. The other is 40cal and shows as green. One is 6.7g salt and is red; the other is 6.7g salt and amber. Is it me or does this not make sense as a quick-glance guide to healthy eating?


All I can imagine, Jason, is that the second type of bacon-wrapped sausage weighs much more than the first (per sausage, that is, not per pack). Although the heavier sausage has a similar calorie count and salt content to the lighter one, it has fewer calories and less salt per 100g (or any other fixed weight) and is therefore 'healthier'.

To me, the real question is: why does Sainsbury's go to the trouble of offering two types of own-brand bacon-wrapped sausage?



These are actually pigs in blankets from a recipe on the Waitrose website. I don't know how they fare on the traffic light system, but they certainly look tasty...

3 comments:

The Ridger, FCD said...

This is so weird. A "pig in a blanket" is a hot dog (weiner) wrapped in a croissant or other roll/bread in the US...

Apus said...

The US usage seems more more sensible than the UK's simply because bread is somehow more blanket-like than bacon – assuming the sausage is pork.

Well shared, Anon. But while "dog's dick" or "dogs' dicks" could be justified (though in this case the plural would be my preference, implying as it does a bigger dinner), "dog's dicks" would seem to refer to a peculiarly well endowed dog! Mind you, a very happy chap is sometimes said to be as happy as "a dog with two cocks".

While we're on the subject of canine genitalia, in the UK the traditional newspaper term for an exclamation mark, or 'screamer' is, or used to be, "a dog's cock". And in some circles a good thing is known as "the dog's bollocks".

Anonymous said...

I've not been in Sainsbury's for years, but I expect the reason they offer two brands is the same reason Tesco's have both the Tesco Value range and the Tesco Finest range.