Grocery shopping is already stressful enough with high prices, constant recalls, and quality concerns. Then, as one consumer claims on TikTok, misleading packaging like Al Fresco’s chicken sausage only adds to the chaos.
The user @travelandfete posted a TikTok on Oct. 20 while at Stop & Shop because she noticed a glaring discrepancy in Al Fresco’s chicken sausage label and ingredients list. The video has 2,340 views at the time of publication.
What did the consumer find in the ingredients?
@Travelandfete speaks from behind the camera while the video shows a selection of sausage products at the grocery store. While talking, she shows the front and back packaging for two of Al Fresco’s chicken sausage products.
“Guys, I know y’all love y’all chicken sausage, beef sausage, turkey sausage, but I’m actually looking at the back of this brand—Al Fresco—it’s a spinach feta with garlic and rosemary chicken sausage. Let’s turn it over to the back,” she says.
“If you look closely at the ingredients it says in a natural pork casing. Wow,” she scoffs. “And they’re calling themselves 100% natural chicken, no fillers, when the casing of this wrapper is filled with pork.”
To prove her point, she shows another chicken product–sweet apple flavored–that lists natural pork casing in the ingredients as well.
In the caption, she adds, “Transparency matters! Let’s encourage clear labelling for informed choices!” and tags the USDA, FDA, and Al Fresco TikTok accounts.
@travelandfete Transparency matters! 🌿 Just spotted a product labeled as ‘all-natural chicken sausage’ that contains pork casing. Let’s encourage clear labeling for informed choices!🙌😉 @USDA @FDA @alfresco_allnatural #FoodLabeling #ConsumerAwareness #foodmatter ♬ original sound – Travel & Fete
Commenters voice similar frustrations
Commenters largely agreed with the video’s petition for honest and transparent packaging.
One user commented, “I’ve always noticed this, I hate it.”
Another wrote, “I absolutely hate this! It’s so hard to find sausage with no pork and then when chicken is used, they wrap it in pig intestines! But using pork casing still means it’s ‘natural chicken.’”
A third user asked, “What’s wrong with pork?” to which the original poster clarified, “If you eat pork, nothing; but, if you’re trying to avoid it, then you wouldn’t know it contains it unless you read the label completely.”
A fourth user voiced support for a competitor brand and said, “Aidells Sausage would never!” However, according to the ingredients list of Aidells’ chicken and apple sausage, they also list pork as their choice of casing.
What’s the problem with pork casings?
Like the original poster said in the video’s comments, nothing is inherently wrong with sausages using pork casing. Bon Appetit explains that pork, among cow, goat and sheep, is historically a popular casing option in sausage making.
Consumers have non-animal casing options available, such as synthetic or plant-derived. Additionally, shoppers can purchase kosher or halal sausage products to ensure no use of pork in the production process.
Are Al Fresco’s chicken sausages misleading?
Although Al Fresco uses one of the most common casings in sausage making, the question still stands: is their packaging misleading? The answer is no.
The USDA requires that the packaging clarifies when a different natural casing is used than what meat or poultry is in the casing itself, which is the case in the Al Fresco chicken sausage products. Therefore, they are correctly adhering to USDA standards when labeling the sausage as 100% natural chicken although the casing is pork.
For consumers, this may be frustrating as they have to read the fine print for this clarification. However, to be safe, shoppers should locate kosher or halal sausage products for non-pork casings or remove the sausage from the casing if they only wish to eat chicken.
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