Nope, they use either real pig intestines, or a processed version of the same. The real ones tend to give the shorter, fatter sausage, the processed ones (intestines, sometimes of other animals, mashed and reconstituted) are the ones that give production line sausages that split as soon as they hit the hot pan..... I suspect it was the look of the machine that made the announcers lose it, it forces the meat into the skins, after the skin has been threaded onto the nozzle of the machine, like a condom on a particularly productive willy. Pressure and speed are of the essence or else you get a long limp sausage, or burst the skin. It is quite an erotic experience skinning sausages, almost pornographic.....

LTS