SAUSAGE producers across the region are reporting surging sales amid fears that cheaper processed meats rank alongside cigarettes as a major cause of cancer.

Family-run sausage specialists Heck, which is based near Bedale, North Yorkshire, said data for 5,000 supermarkets across the UK had revealed unprecedented sales of its premium brand products, with 70 tonnes of bangers flying off the shelves at supermarkets in the last week.

Butchers have also noted a spike in demand for their sausages, following the World Health Organisation ranking cured and processed meats in the same category as asbestos, alcohol, arsenic and tobacco.

They say customers are seeking higher quality products after scientists found salts, such as sodium nitrite, which some producers add to meats such as sausages, bacon and packaged ham as part of the curing process, can react with stomach acid to form carcinogenic compounds.

The change in consumer habits, which has emerged during British Sausage Week, echoes that of the 20 per cent increase in sales butchers across the region reported in February 2013, following horse meat being found in numerous mass-produced products at supermarkets.

Heck owner Andrew Keeble, who markets his sausages towards a health-conscious audience, said he was determined that his sausages would not become tarred with the same brush as less healthy processed products following the scare.

He said: “The press was mostly talking about bacon, which is cured using salts that they say can cause cancer.

“When it comes to sausages, the cured or smoked ones have these chemicals. Ours don’t, so it was a huge week for us, our biggest ever.

“Retailers want to offer cheap food, but the reality is that people are willing to pay a higher price for a better product.”

As part of plans to expand the business, Heck is planning to launch a Sausage World visitor centre at a new plant at Sinderby, near Thirsk, from next summer to offer transparency about its processes.

Butcher Nick Fenwick, of Fenwick’s of Darlington, said customers were clearly seeking higher quality products and had asked about the ingredients.

He said: "Sausage sales have definitely been on the up, without a shadow of a doubt.

"Customers say they want decent quality sausages and they take my word more than that of the supermarkets about what goes into the sausages."

Gareth Dadd, of Bell's Butchers, of Middlesbrough, added: "We've seen rising sausage sales as we know where everything comes from, so people can buy with confidence."