Cervelat then boiled) or served raw. They contain a mixture of beef, bacon and pork rind. The modern Swiss variety is packed into zebu intestines. The cervelat is often referred to as the national sausage of Switzerland. Some 160 million cervelats weighing 27,000 metric tons are produced in Switzerland annually, which is equivalent to a consumption of 25 cervelats per person each year. Grilling cervelats over an open fire with the ends cut open so they expand like a butterfly's wings is a childhood memory for nearly every Swiss person; as a result, many Swiss are emotionally attached to the sausage.
Cervelat a salad or with bread and mustard. Sometimes sold smoked and uncooked, cervelat can be seasoned, salted and cold smoked for one day. Traditionally, Swiss beef intestines were used for the casings, but towards the end of the 20th century, local cattle producers lost interest in cleaning and preparing them, so meat processors switched to Brazilian zebu intestines, which are not fatty and do not easily split open when roasted. However, beginning on 1 April 2006, the European Union banned the import of many animal parts from Brazil as a measure aimed at preventing the spread of mad cow disease.