Purchase the product before the "sell-by" or expiration dates.
Follow handling recommendations on product.
Sausages are either uncooked or ready to eat. They can be made from red meat (beef, pork, lamb or veal), poultry (turkey or chicken) or a combination.
To prevent foodborne illness, uncooked sausages that contain ground beef, lamb or veal should be cooked to 160°F. Uncooked sausages that contain ground turkey and chicken should be cooked to 165°F. Uncooked pork sausages must be cooked to 160°F to prevent foodborne illness associated with Trichinella spiralis, a parasite found primarily in pork products.
USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) inspects all sausages in interstate commerce and all sausages that are exported to other countries. If sausages are made in a retail establishment (such as a grocery store, meat market or restaurant) and are sold within the State where the establishment is located, the sausage may be under the jurisdiction of that State's health or agriculture department.
(Source: www.fsis.usda.gov)
Contacted specialists in the Quality Assurance Department and Consumer Response Department at the following companies:
Bob Evans
Cargill Meat Solutions Corp.
Hormel Foods Corporation
Johnsonville Sausage, LLC
Jones Dairy Farms
Odom's Tennessee Pride
Sara Lee Corporation
Smithfield Inc.
Tyson Foods, Inc.
Other Sources:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
*This is only a partial list of our sources as we have used multiple other resources.