A sausage consists of ground meat (and sometimes other animal parts), herbs and spices, and possibly other ingredients, generally packed in a casing (traditionally the intestines of the animal, though now often synthetic), and preserved in some way, often by curing or smoking. Sausage making is a very old food production and preservation technique. There is no consensus whether similar products that are not packed in casings, such as pâté, meatloaf, scrapple and head cheese should be considered sausages.