The lowly sausage has swung to new heights of popularity in Britain, as manufacturers extrude more high-end products onto the market.

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The marketing analyst firm, Mintel, has been casing the industry since 2000, and reports a 17 percent jump in the 5-year span. It said Britons will down some 189,000 tons of sausages this year.

The financial link is greater -- sales are forecast to hit $965 million by the end of 2005, up 23 percent in just five years, Sky News said.

Mintel consumer analyst David Bird said even the traditional, pink British sausages known as bangers were enjoying a resurgence as a trickle-down effect of interest in exotic sausages, such as Thai, lemongrass and duck varieties.

"Manufacturers today are reinventing sausages as posh nosh with quality-led production, after the association with mechanically recovered meat and cheap fillers tarnished the perception of this humble British staple," he said.