Contain ginseng and horny goat weed to 'help with erectile dysfunction'

SOS Viagra Sausages are on sale today for £4.99 from Fathers4Justice

A plate of sausages may be recommended for their ability to put hairs on your chest - but a new brand of pork bangers is promising far more than that.

A new line of sausages hitting shops today contain a very unusual twist - a natural alternative remedy to Viagra.

The SOS Viagra Sausages, which come in a pack of six for £4.99, contain ginseng, L'Arginine and the appropriately-named horny goat weed - all of which claim to help with erectile dysfunction.

The £4.99 SOS Viagra sausages are for over-18s only and contain natural alternatives to Viagra including ginseng and horny goat weed

As you might expect, they are strictly for over-18s only.

The sausages were created by the infamous Fathers4Justice (F4J) campaign, which has a serious message behind the humorous product.

The fathers' rights organisation, which famously pulled stunts on Tower Bridge and Buckingham Palace, want to raise awareness of men's health's issues.

Their main focus is on male depression, as suicide is the biggest killer of men aged 45 and under in the UK, according to the male suicide prevention charity Calm.

Sixteen per cent of men struggle with anxiety or depression at some point in their lives, according to the Office for National Statistics - a condition showcased by character Pete Gifford in the new series of Cold Feet.

And fathers are three times more likely to die after separating from their partners, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.

Depression is something F4J founder's Matt O'Connor has suffered from in the past.

The sausages were created by Fathers4Justice to raise awareness of men's health issues, particularly male depression

He said: 'As a father of three boys, I am deeply concerned about the public health emergency facing men.

'Funnily, the new series of Cold Feet has helped hundreds more men and the people they love come forward and talk to us about it and in more ways than one, Pete Gifford's struggle in the plot chimed with my own experiences.

'It made me think now is the time to do something about it, and to do something with humour, to help more people open up and talk.

'That is the vital first step that helped me. I hope our sausages will give people food for thought and help men break the wall of silence around these issues.'

The sausages are made by south London butchers The Butchery, and come ahead of National Sausage Week at the end of next month.

As well as 98 per cent pork, they contain seasoning and the 'natural' Viagra made up of L'Arginine, and Korean, Red Chinese and Siberian ginseng, packed into hog casing.

They are also full of Horny Goat Weed, otherwise known as Barrenwort, which allegedly got its name when ancient Chinese goat farmers noticed that male goats became more sexually active after eating the plant.

All proceeds will be donated to men's health organisations including veterans mental health charity Combat Stress, male suicide prevention group Andy's Man Club and testicular cancer prevention charity, Check Em Lads.