from about 100 to 200 grams. Swiss cervelats are prepared and eaten cooked or raw. They are boiled, grilled or fried. They can also be served uncooked, either in a salad or with bread and mustard. Sometimes sold smoked and uncooked, cervelat can be seasoned, salted and cold smoked for one day. 2008 casings shortage 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. Among these were beef intestines. Although Switzerland is not an EU member state, it is bound to observe European food protection laws through other treaty agreements. Hence, Swiss and German stockpiles of zebu intestines became very low by 2008, threatening production altogether, and causing some controversy in Switzerland. In January of that year, the Swiss meat industry announced that a national "cervelat task force" had failed in an exhaustive search for an acceptable alternative to zebu intestines. The New York Times noted that "the possible demise of cervelas visibly upset the Swiss, a normally even-tempered people." The cervelat production crisis was covered closely by the Swiss media and in a newspaper poll, 72% of those surveyed said the "cervelas, as they knew it, had to be saved." The cervelat crisis was brought up in a parliamentary debate wherein state councillor and president of the Swiss Meat Association, Rolf Büttiker, spoke of the national sausage's social significance, calling it a "cult sausage" and "the worker's steak". The Swiss government entered into negotiations with the EU to seek an exception for zebu intestines, and Swiss scientists were sent to Brazil hoping to show that the intestines posed no risk of transmitting mad cow disease. By August 2008, most of the Swiss demand for bovine intestines had been met with imports from Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay. France Cervelas de Lyon are a sausage specialty of Lyonnaise cuisine. They contain finely minced pork, and either truffles or pistachios. Sold uncooked, the sausage has to be boiled before it is eaten. In Alsatian cuisine, cervelas d'Alsace are split open and served with cheese