Blood sausage

Blood sausage can be served around 6 months, once baby is ready. The sausage must be prepared for the age, cooked through and free of honey, because of the risk of infant botulism. It is high in sodium, but an occasional taste within a varied diet is fine.

What it is

This is an old food, made so that every part of a slaughtered animal gets used. The recipe blends the blood of goat, pig or waterfowl with ground meat. Herbs, spices, vegetables and grains go in too. The mix is shaped into cakes, links or patties. One group is eaten cold like deli meat. The other is served hot. Its hundreds of types include black pudding, morcilla and mutura.

Nutrition

It usually supplies protein and fat, plus choline, iron, selenium, zinc, B12 and vitamin K. It is also high in sodium. Babies who feed themselves usually get little sodium from solid food.

Reheat even cured or precooked sausage until hot all the way through, as this lowers food poisoning risk. Blood sausage made with raw meat must be cooked to kill harmful bacteria. Internal temperature targets are as follows. Sausage with fish or shellfish: 145 F (63 C). Cook sausage made from red meat, whether beef, lamb or pork, to a safe 160 F (71 C). Sausage with chicken: 165 F (74 C).

Blood sausage is often cylindrical and has a firm, springy texture. These traits raise the choking risk. Give baby small crumbles inside a food. Do not cut it into coins or rounds.

At 2 years, a child with mature eating skills can try biting a whole sausage. A whole sausage is less risky than one cut into rounds. Between 24 and 36 months, if the child follows directions and chews hard foods well, round slices can be offered. Give one slice at a time with the child seated and supervised.

Blood sausage rarely causes allergy. Still, there can be allergy to meats in the sausage, such as beef or pork. Allergens like dairy, tree nuts and wheat may also have been added. Read the label carefully.

Alpha-gal is a sugar, and allergy to it is tied to bites from certain ticks. In the US that means the Lone Star tick, and other ticks cause it elsewhere. This sugar is in the meat of all non-primate mammals. A delayed allergic reaction appears 3 to 8 hours after eating red meat. Some of these people also react to the small amount of the sugar in dairy, gelatin and animal organs. Pork products can carry a higher allergy risk for people with cat allergy. This is called pork-cat syndrome.