EAT sausages and slim? Thirsk slimmers are losing weight with a bang(er) or two thanks to butcher and wholesale supplier, Haigh's of Dalton.

Recently at a family celebration, Sharon Bartram, who runs Slimming World classes at Thirsk and Boroughbridge, asked Sarah Colley, from Haigh's, if her brother could make a tasty fat-reduced sausage as the commercial ones tasted "like cardboard".

So Mrs Colley, a member of the class, asked her brother, Duncan Haigh.

After several months of trying different recipes, the fat is out of the frying pan.

Mr Haigh came up with a recipe for a pork sausage without fat. It reaches the trading standards calorie counting specification to allow it to be called a low-fat product.

Volunteers at the slimming class became official tasters and 140 packets of the sizzlers were sold in the same week.

He is now hoping the product, packaged as Sharon's Low-Syn Sausages, will be a hit and become another prize-winning product for the company.

"My first few attempts just missed the mark calorie-wise, so I tried another batch using the best pork and no fat," he said. "This time we hit the right spot."

One member said: "I've tried other reduced-fat sausages before and I threw them in the bin, but these are delicious."

The sausages are available in class or by ordering from Sharon on 01845 525241.