Except as otherwise provided in this section, or under the Poultry Products Inspection Act with respect to products consisting partly of poultry, sausage is the coarse or finely comminuted meat food product prepared from one or more kinds of meat or meat and meat byproducts, containing various amounts of water as provided for elsewhere in this part, and usually seasoned with condimented proportions of condimental substances, and frequently cured. Certain sausage as provided for elsewhere in this part may contain binders and extenders as provided in a regulation permitting that use in this subchapter or in 9 CFR chapter III, subchapter E, or in 21 CFR chapter I, subchapter A or subchapter B. In addition to the binders and extenders referred to in the preceding sentence, the following two substances may also be used as binders in those sausages in which the use of such class of substances is permitted: pork collagen at up to 3.5% of the product formulation and transglutaminase enzyme at up to 65 ppm of the product formulation. Sausage may not contain phosphates except that phosphates listed in a regulation permitting that use in this subchapter or in 9 CFR chapter III, subchapter E, or in 21 CFR chapter I, subchapter A or subchapter B may be used in cooked sausage. To facilitate chopping or mixing or to dissolve the usual curing ingredients, water or ice may be used in the preparation of sausage which is not cooked in an amount not to exceed 3 percent of the total ingredients in the formula. Cooked sausages such as Polish sausage, cotto salami, braunschweiger, liver sausage, and similar cooked sausage products may contain no more than 10 percent of added water in the finished product. Sausage may contain Mechanically Separated (Species) used in accordance with §319.6.

[55 FR 34683, Aug. 24, 1990, as amended at 64 FR 72175, Dec. 23, 1999; 66 FR 54916, Oct. 31, 2001]