SOMERSET butcher Malcolm Pyne has won the South of England sausage championship for the second year in a row.

Mr Pyne, owner of Pyne’s of Somerset in North Petherton, romped home to victory in the annual tasting competition organised by the National Federation of Meat Traders.

His victorious sausages will now compete in the national finals in the New Year.

Adding to his victory, Mr Pyne was also awarded second place in the speciality section with his pork, bacon and black pudding sausage variety.

The question on everybody’s lips is what makes these sausages so good and, after a lot of persuasion, Mr Pyne revealed his secret ingredient.

He said: “It’s just good meat – pure and simple.”

“You can only make a quality product if you use quality ingredients.

“We use the same free-range pork in our sausages that we sell as joints or chops because there’s no magic formula for turning rubbish into a quality product.

“It was only when the wheel came off with the horsemeat affair last year and thousands of families started buying from independent butchers that they realised the difference between a proper butcher’s sausage and an industrial product.”

Pyne’s of Somerset produce more than 12,000 sausages every week due to popular demand.

They say if these were laid out end to end they would stretch well over a mile into Bridgwater.