Endangered weenies

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Swiss Aim To Save National Sausage

(AP) Cervelat sausage _ a much-loved Swiss specialty _ could be off the menu by the end of the year because of a lack of key ingredients, the country's meat producers said Monday.

A joint "task force cervelat" composed of scientists, bureaucrats and industry representatives has been convened to tackle the crisis caused by a shortfall in Brazilian cows' intestines used to encase the nation's favorite sausage, the Swiss meat association said.

"We can't say precisely when stocks will run out, but some producers are telling us it could be as soon as this summer," said Balz Horber, a spokesman for the association. "Others are saying they might last till the end of the year."

Some 160 million cervelats are consumed raw, boiled or grilled every year in this nation of 7 million people. Producers were hoping to profit from the hunger of tens of thousands of soccer fans expected to descend on the Alpine nation this year for the final round of the 2008 European championships.

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