[peteinwilts]

Hi Guys

I had a go at making some sausages using my own pigs and home grown spices.
I based them on some recipes found here and thought they were fantastic.

I tried a few with a few close freinds and relatives who said they liked them so much, they would rather buy them from me rather than the shops.

so... if i wanted to turn it up a notch, i presume i would need all sorts of environmental health hoops to jump through, which would probably require a dedicated room(??)

My question is, here in the UK, are the rules just to stringent to be making sausages at home as a way of earning a bit of pocket money, and just to financially unviable for a small scale, or is it realistic and do-able?

I am interested if any other pig-owning sausagemakers have done this, and would like to learn from their wisdom!

Cheers
Pete

[Beewyched]

Hiya Pete 

Yep, making sausages is covered by the same regs   

I think you're ok if you're only selling to "family & friends" though - where is Lillian/Robert when I need them!

[HappyHippy]

Give someone at your local environmental health department a call, they'll be able to give you all the rules and regs  The lady who I spoke to was really helpful.

I've been looking into it myself, for selling to the general public,  as a minimum you need a prep room and a seperate area to store finished products. You'll need to comply with weights & measures for labelling regs and list ingredients etc. You also require to submit samples for testing on a fairly regular basis too. Without putting too much of a downer on it, you're unlikely to be able to do it from your own kitchen........but if you have outbuildings that can be converted it's not unachievable.
HTH
Karen

[robert waddell]

the regulations are there for a reason     to prevent you from killing and maiming the public    with auntie jeans home made bangers the binding agent dog hairs and household dust
we have inquired into it ourselves and it is not as easy as happy hippy has written (different areas same as planning)
you have to have separate purpose built premises that involves planning and the subsequent rate implications insurance food and hygiene courses and certificates for you and any staff equipment and a label printer that is approved as would your proper scales your outlay for premises not that much bigger than a single garage is in the region of £30000  unless you or hubby or bidy in can do the work to a very high standard and to the spec laid down by the architect planners and building control and environmental health
now the big one friends and family are just to polite to give an honest view and did they buy any        from the above you will need more than pocket money to recoup the initial investment
if this reply sounds harsh   the last thing you want is some twat telling you it is all right then finding out through e coli and salmonella and not forgetting listeria    THAT YOU CAUSED IT
the bpa used to run sausage competitions which was a good platform for learning and if you won any you got certificates to prove it

[Hilarysmum]

It may still be possible to hire the butchers premises on his day off.  Its what friends did in Uk up to a year ago.  Loads of confusion with weights and measures too.

[Billy Rhomboid]

Yes, i have looked into this method - hiring Butcher's premises on a Sunday. Bit of a faff regarding insurance and so on but much less of an issue than having to build/rent own premises.
Of course the next problem after that is having somewhere to store them.