Sausage casings. Classification of sausage casings by type

15.11.2019

What sausage casings are used by manufacturers

Sausage casing is an important component sausages... It affects not only the appearance, but also the taste of the products. What are the types sausage casings presented on the market, and what types do manufacturers prefer?

You can learn how to choose a casing and packaging for sausages from the following video. What material is used for sausages, what are the requirements for them? What are the differences between natural and polyamide casings? All this is being discussed by the journalists of the Southern Region Don TV channel.

Choosing a casing and packaging for sausages! TV channel "South Region Don"

Sausage casings can be divided into four types: natural, collagen, protein, cellulose. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Natural casings

The name reveals what they are made of - from natural raw materials. For this, various sections of the intestines of slaughter animals are used - cattle, pigs, sheep. The resulting raw material undergoes special processing before becoming a shell. The result is a continuous mesh of connective tissue. Thanks to this structure, it has good permeability and tensile strength. In addition, such a shell is edible. But, it also has its drawbacks: uneven diameter and length, there may be defects in raw materials. Also the shelf life finished products in such membranes is very short, as it is exposed to microorganisms faster. An example of sausages in a natural casing are Frankfurt sausages.

How Frankfurt sausages are made

Despite the fact that it belongs to artificial casings, it is most close in composition to natural casings... This is due to the fact that collagen fibers are used in its manufacture, which are obtained from the middle layer of cattle skins.

The raw material is called split. During the manufacturing process, the split is sorted, preservatives are removed, and then it is mechanically and chemically processed.
The resulting collagen mass is the basis for the sausage casing. It gets the necessary properties through conditioning, drying in compliance with a certain temperature and humidity.

In terms of its properties, such a casing is not inferior to natural , while it has a number of advantages. Among them: elasticity, fixed stuffing capacity, steam and gas permeability. In addition, they are edible, there will be no harm to health from their use. Manufacturers offer colorless and colored collagen casings.
Many sausage manufacturers prefer this type of casings for their products.
One of these manufacturers is the Yekaterinburg Meat Processing Plant. The whole chain of sausage production at the factory in the video:

Production of wieners "EMK"

The raw material for the production is cellulose of high purity. This casing is moisture, steam, gas permeable and is widely used for the manufacture of sausages and small sausages. Their indisputable advantage is that they are resistant to high temperatures, good extensibility, smoke permeability.

At the same time, it is distinguished by high moisture permeability, which means that manufacturers need to pay attention to the humidity regime of heat chambers and observe the storage conditions for finished products.

Therefore, it is optimal to use them for sausages with a low moisture content in the recipe. If earlier they were used for the production of small-caliber sausages, now they are used to pack sausages of large diameters. In order to give the product a natural look, cellulose casings are tinted.
Their properties allowed them to take pride of place among the shells. Recently, the popularity of them among manufacturers has only increased. This is explained by the fact that the demand for so-called "retro sausages" has grown. Buyers choose boiled, delicious sausage with a paper strip inside and tied with cellophane.

They are called shells of the 21st century. They have become the number one choice for many sausage manufacturers. And there are reasons for this. They are made on the basis of polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride. The raw materials are hygienically clean materials, and the casings are safe in contact with the product.

There are two types of these shells.: heat-shrinkable and non-heat-shrinkable. The most commonly used shrink sleeves. They can be single-layer or multi-layer, in various colors and diameters. Feature - shrinkage under certain conditions in the longitudinal and transverse directions up to 15 percent. This property ensures the evenness, smoothness of the loaves. All polyamide casings have the following properties: mechanical strength, heat resistance, biological inertness, and make it possible to obtain a product with increased yields.

Due to their impermeability, polyamide casings do not allow microbes to penetrate inside. In addition, the shelf life depends on the storage temperature. The shelf life can be from 15 to 60 days.

Manufacturers do not need to make special changes in production technology. And what features have different types polyamide casing, specified in the manufacturer's recommendations.

All this provided a wide range of applications - they are used for cooked sausages, liverwurst, sausages, brawn, pates, semi-finished products and many other products. But, at the same time, these shells have their own characteristics, so due to the fact that there is no moisture, gas and vapor permeability, for that. To achieve a smoked aroma, manufacturers have to use artificial flavors.

You can see how the production of sausages in polyamide casings takes place in the video:

Sausage production. Vyatka

In sausage production, packaging materials include, first of all, casings, without which it is impossible to manufacture the bulk of sausage and sausage products, as well as bags for vacuum packaging of products. There are various definitions of a sausage casing, but their essence boils down to the fact that it is a technological container that gives a product shape and protects it from environmental influences.

Sausage casings have a number of common functions:

keep meat emulsion or minced meat during heat treatment, ripening, drying, smoking, etc .;
shape and stabilize the sausage meat;
protect content from external influences;
are carriers of information, both mandatory and advertising;
serve as a means of promoting finished products due to a variety of diameters, colors and shapes.

Technological alternative

At the end of the 19th century, manual labor in the process of preparing minced meat began to replace meat processing machines. This to a large extent contributed to the development and increase in the production of sausages. As a result, consumer preferences soon shifted towards sausages on the meat and meat products market.

Initially, in the manufacture of sausages for filling with minced meat, only natural casings were used, which were obtained as by-products when cutting carcasses. However, very soon, for obvious reasons, natural intestines were simply not enough, because the need for them could not be covered only from the reserves of slaughter cattle. Therefore, it was at this time that the production of artificial casings began to actively develop, although work on the creation of a substitute for a natural casing was carried out earlier.

By creating an artificial shell, the developers tried to preserve everything best properties natural, but at the same time eliminate its shortcomings. In this regard, general requirements for shells were formulated, which must have:

uniformity of caliber;
resistance to microorganisms;
high mechanical strength;
high elasticity;
the ability to prepare for use without large labor costs;
comply with high hygiene standards.

And later new ones appeared:

a certain level of vapor and gas tightness;
heat resistance and moisture resistance;
the ability to automate the process of filling and shaping sausage loaves;
possibility of marking.

In general, the artificial casing, which replaced the natural one, turned out to be more technologically advanced and capable of meeting higher requirements.

Sausage casings can be classified according to a number of properties. Our classification is based on two parameters: the material from which the sausage casing is made and the level of gas and vapor permeability (see diagram). Moreover, these factors are interrelated. Natural casings and artificial, made from natural materials, are distinguished by a high level of permeability to water vapor and gases, while most artificial plastic casings, on the contrary, have an extremely low permeability. The "borderline" position is occupied by a viscose-reinforced casing with PVDC lacquering. It is made from a natural material - cellulose, but due to the PVDC layer it has high barrier properties.

Made from homogeneous cellulose

Initially, for the manufacture of artificial sausage casings, cellulose was used, obtained either from cotton fiber or from deciduous trees. From technical cellulose, viscose is produced (an orange gel-like substance), which is then sent to the extruders. Extrusion produces a hollow tube that is solidified through a series of chemical reactions. This is actually a casing made of homogeneous seamless cellulose (often referred to simply as cellulose). Its main uses are sausages, small sausages and small sausages. In the process of manufacturing the shell, special solutions are sometimes applied to its inner walls in order to enhance or weaken the adhesion to the finished meat product.

Cellulose casings are distinguished by high permeability to gases, water vapors and smoke, greater stability and uniformity of caliber, compared to natural casings.

Viscose-reinforced

However, the cellulose casing also has a number of disadvantages: poor moisture strength, insufficient tensile strength, and insufficient constancy of the gauge in the filled state. They are eliminated by including scaffold fibers. Such a casing is called viscose-reinforced.

From long fibers, hemp is woven into a fibrous canvas, which is also impregnated with special solutions to make it more durable. Then this canvas is cut into strips of a certain width, corresponding in the future to the diameter of the casing sleeve being produced. The tape is rolled up into a sleeve (tube) and the edges are glued with a longitudinal overlap seam. The resulting sleeve is impregnated with viscose, which, as in the case of a cellulose casing, is solidified through a series of chemical reactions.

Viscose-reinforced casings, given their high mechanical strength, are made of medium and large diameters, and now they are mainly used for the production of smoked sausages... The walls of the casing can be additionally impregnated with solutions that enhance or weaken adhesion to the product.

The viscose-reinforced casing, in comparison with casings made from natural raw materials, has a high moisture and mechanical strength, which is especially important when making sausages of medium and large diameter, as well as when using automatic and semi-automatic clipping equipment.

Viscose-reinforced with an additional layer of PVDC lacquer

This is the earliest development in the field of artificial sausage casings with barrier properties. A solution of PVDC lacquer is applied to the inner or outer side of the wall of the already finished viscose-reinforced casing and is evenly distributed.

An internally varnished casing has certain advantages, since it does not lose its ability to hydrophilic shrinkage - shrinkage as a result of drying. Since the PVDC layer does not allow water to evaporate from the product, the size of the sausage loaf does not change, and the casing shrinks tightly around the contents.

Viscose-reinforced casings with PVDC lamination are practically impermeable, which ensures an insignificant level of moisture loss.

Protein

Protein (or collagen) artificial casings include:

shells of hardened connective tissue protein (collagen), relatively thick-walled, unsuitable for consumption together with the contents;
edible protein sausage casings of small diameter, thin-walled, suitable for consumption with the contents.

The raw material for both of the above types is the inner part of animal skin (flesh) or "split". Collagen-containing raw materials are crushed and processed with a number of chemical compounds, as a result of which the collagen turns into a gel-like state. Next, the shell is extruded. In order to increase the mechanical strength and resistance of the casing to moisture and high temperatures, it is tanned with wood smoke condensates or aldehydes (for example, glyoxal).

Proceeding from the fact that the protein (collagen) membranes are biologically similar to the natural intestine, since they consist of a connective tissue protein, the properties that they possess are mostly similar. Protein membranes are inherent in:

a high degree of affinity of connective tissue protein for minced meat protein;
the ability to assimilate (for thin-walled small diameter shells);
high permeability to smoke, gases, water vapor;
constancy of diameter and greater mechanical strength in comparison with natural casings.

A special case of an artificial protein shell is a shell made of tissue coated with protein. The manufacturing process can be divided into two stages:

the actual production of a hollow textile sleeve;
impregnation of textile sleeves with collagen mass and drying.

Such a shell has a higher mechanical strength than a conventional protein shell due to the fabric, which acts as a skeleton fiber. The rest of their properties are identical.

Plastic

A prerequisite for the manufacture of a plastic sausage casing was, firstly, the creation in the second half of the 20th century of extrusion-able polymer materials and the development of a suitable extrusion method. Secondly, in the same period of time, there is an enlargement of enterprises, an increase in production volumes, respectively, and the marketing policy of sausage manufacturers is changing. The search for new, more distant sales markets is underway, and at the same time the question of the safety of meat products arises during the entire period of transportation, storage and sale.

The solution to the issue of the safety of products went in two ways: methods of preserving products (for example, by cold) were developed and casings and packaging were created that would increase the stability of products during storage, preventing the development of microorganisms and oxidative processes.

The most suitable for this task were just plastic sausage casings and bags for vacuum packaging, which have barrier properties in relation to, first of all, oxygen and water vapor. An important property was also impermeability to ultraviolet radiation.

Three types of polymers dominate in the production of plastic casing:

polyamide;
polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC);
polyolefins.

The raw materials for plastic casings are produced by the chemical and petroleum refining industries. These polymeric materials have a common feature - the ability to become plastic and melt when heated, which is very important in the manufacture of plastic casings.

For the production of multilayer plastic sheaths, methods have been developed that enable co-extrusion (co-extrusion). The result is casings that combine the different properties of individual types of plastic materials.

Currently, the use of single layer PVDC casing is gradually being phased out. The main reason is that PVDC is a chlorine-containing substance and during its disposal many toxic substances are released that have a detrimental effect on the environment.

The evolution of polyamide casings began with a single layer, non-oriented casings. It is characterized by high barrier properties for water vapor and gases in comparison with viscose-reinforced, proteinaceous and natural casings, but at the same time, the absence of heat shrink properties, low mechanical tensile and tensile strength.

The next step was the creation of the so-called oriented single-layer polyamide casing, which became capable of thermal shrinkage. The barrier properties of the oriented steel shell are an order of magnitude higher than that of the non-oriented one, and the mechanical properties have also significantly improved.

Then multilayer shells appeared. The ability to use the properties of different polymers in combination has made it possible to significantly increase the barrier properties, even in comparison with impermeable single-layer casings. In addition, by varying the composition of the polymers used, it became possible to produce highly specialized types of casings for individual meat products eg for pressed cured hams or sterilized sausages.

One of the main directions of development of the market of plastic sausage casings today is the use of single-layer permeable plastic casings. They are already being used in the production of frankfurters and sausages. The main properties of such casings are smoke permeability and low weight loss of the product during storage. High smoke permeability is achieved in the process heat treatment sausages and allows you to obtain the desired organoleptic properties. In the process of storage, on the contrary, the level of permeability to water vapor and gases decreases, which significantly increases the shelf life of the product and allows the meat product to remain attractive for a long time.

First, let's figure out what types of shells are. They are natural (from the internal organs of domestic animals) and artificial.

Artificial ones are divided into those made with the use of natural materials (collagen, cellulose, fibrous) and synthetic (from polyamide, polypropylene and others).

Natural casing

For reference:

The most common guts for stuffing sausages are casings and blues.

Chereva - small intestines located from the stomach to the cecum, including the duodenum, jejunum and ileum. In different animals, the length of the womb is from 12 to 20 m. They are used for casings for sausages. And in a sewn form - for semi-smoked and boiled sausages.
Sinyuga - intestine, one edge of which is the cecum, and the second is the beginning of the colon. Length up to 2 m, diameter up to 20 cm. Used for stuffing boiled sausages.

These are ordinary intestines (for example, bowels, circles, penetrators, cyanosis). They have been used by people for centuries to make sausages. Stuffed the intestines finely minced meat, smoked, boiled or baked.

The technology has not changed even now. Thoroughly washed, cleaned, fat-free guts (pork, beef or lamb) are stuffed with minced sausage.

Why are natural casings good? They are identical in composition to meat protein, permeable to smoke and steam. Smoked substances enter the sausage meat through such a casing during smoking. With it, the reverse process is also possible - drying (to obtain dry-cured sausages).

The shelf life of products in a natural casing: boiled sausages, frankfurters and small sausages, fried sausages - up to 5 days; semi-smoked sausages - 15 days, boiled-smoked - up to 30 days; uncooked smoked - up to 180 days.

Artificial casings made of natural materials

3. Fibrous casing.

Consists of the same cellulose or other natural materials reinforced with a polymer mesh. It is partially permeable to smoke and moisture, therefore it is suitable for all types of sausages. But more often we see it on salami and cervelates. Strong enough, but expensive to manufacture.

The shelf life of sausages in a protein, cellophane or fibrous casing is the same as for sausages in a natural casing, or slightly longer.

Artificial casing (barrier)

The potential danger of polyamide is associated with the toxicity of substances that can migrate from the shell into the product itself (hexamethylenediamine, ε-caprolactam, benzene, phenol, methanol). However, the Russian Federation has established strict hygienic regulations for the admission of polymeric materials for contact with food guaranteeing their safety.

For reference:

Currently, polyamide casings with pores are being developed, which open when smoked and close after cooling.

The polyamide casing is impervious to gases and moisture. Cannot be used for smoked sausages. But it is convenient for the manufacturer - it does not let oxygen through to the contents, protects meat products from oxidation and microbial spoilage. Therefore, products can be stored in such a casing for a very long time: the shelf life of cooked sausages in a polyamide casing can reach 60 days or more. Such a shell cannot be called natural. And the taste characteristics of sausages in it often leave much to be desired.

Polyamide is also used in the vacuum packaging of sliced sausages.

Sausages in natural casings are often packed in an additional vacuum casing - this significantly increases their shelf life.
Sometimes, instead of a vacuum, inert gases are used in polyamide packaging, which interfere with the vital activity of microorganisms.

How do artificial casings differ from natural ones?

For reference:

On Russian market boiled sausages and sausages are packed in polyamide in 80% of cases. Most of the smoked ones are “dressed” with a natural or collagen casing. For cooked-smoked and semi-smoked, cellulose and fibrous ones are most often used.

It is considered an indicator of quality expensive product... Low-end products are rarely found in a natural casing; cheap polymer packaging is more often used.

It is important that if any casing is damaged or opened (for example, you cut a piece of sausage from a whole loaf), then the shelf life of such a product is reduced to 12 hours or a little more. On some packages, manufacturers indicate the shelf life of the product after opening the package, during which, when proper storage product safety is guaranteed.

For the production of various sausages (, semi-smoked, uncooked smoked, etc.) as well as in the production of certain types of semi-finished products (kupat, minced meat, etc.), they use different kinds sausage casings. Each of them has its own purpose and its own technological properties.

These are intestinal processed kits or part of kits for all types of slaughter animals. All intestinal semi-finished products must comply technical specifications or GOST "Processed intestines" and must be produced in accordance with technological instructions for the processing of intestinal raw materials. At the same time, they are guided by the rules of veterinary and sanitary examination, as well as sanitary rules in force in the meat and poultry processing industry.

Intestinal kit of cattle ( GOST 16404-70, GOST 16335-70 and others):

Chereva - used for the production of boiled sausages, sausages and small sausages, liverwurst, semi-smoked, boiled-smoked and fried sausages.

They can be presented in the form of bundles or bundles. There are 1 and second grade, there are also salted, dry and dry-salted.

Sinyuga - used for the production of boiled sausages and hams. Divided into wide, medium and narrow, sometimes salty and dry, more often folded in packs of 10 pieces.

Drippers - used for the production of boiled-smoked, raw smoked sausages.

Esophagus - used for the production of cooked sausages. Rarely collected.

Circle - used for all types of sausages. Depending on the diameter, it is divided into 1-2-5 caliber. The casing is very durable and behaves well during production and storage.

Bladder - used in the production of high-grade cooked sausages, brawn. They are, depending on the size, wide, medium, narrow, dry or salty.

Pig intestinal set ( GOST 17286-71):

Chereva - used for all types of sausages. They are divided according to the caliber wide, medium, narrow, grades 1 and 2, used fresh, dry and salted. Produced in bundles or bundles.

Bladder - used for production. Divided by caliber into wide, medium and narrow, released in dried and salted form.

Small ruminant intestinal kit ( GOST 16406-70):

Chereva - used for the production of sausages. A very valuable raw material, produced in the form of bunches or bundles, salted or dry.

Sinyuga - used for all types of boiled sausages, brawn. There is a wide narrow medium, it is produced in a dry, salty form.

Horse intestinal set:

Chereva - only horses are collected from them.

Artificial casings. At the moment, there are a great many different artificial casings, different shapes and sizes, appearance, color, etc. Now, in order:

Cellulose sausage casings - used for the production of cooked sausages, brawn and jellies. Products made with the use of these casings have a short shelf life because they are easily permeable to oxygen in the air, water, ultraviolet rays, and microorganisms. The main raw material for their production is paper, they are also not mechanically strong enough, they cannot be corrugated.

Protein sausage casings - they are used for the production of all types of sausages, but it is not advisable to use them for cooked sausages. Among these casings are edible casings. The main raw material for their production is the connective tissue of cattle or some layers of animal skins that are not suitable for other industries. The advantages of these casings: increased shelf life, can be used for smoked products, attractive appearance, shirring is possible.

Polyamide sausage casings - used for cooked sausages, ham. Organic polymers are the main raw materials for their production. The advantages of this casing: high mechanical strength, caliber uniformity, wide range of colors, it is possible to apply any color and graphic information to the surface, the possibility of corrugation, easy clipping of the loaves, the possibility of hand knitting, high elasticity, good heat shrinkage, extended shelf life of finished products, safety taste and aroma of products, is well separated from the product, prevents the penetration of foreign odors into the product.

Fibrous sausage casings are used for premium sausage products. This is a combined casing which is based on long-fiber paper coated with viscose (regenerated cellulose). It is very durable, the finished product in this casing has an increased shelf life (up to 90 days), it has a beautiful appearance.

Permeable polyamide casings allow achieving traditional organoleptic characteristics, products have a pronounced smell and taste of smoking. They have such properties as vapor permeability and ability to heat shrinkage. Impermeable casings do not allow steam, moisture, gas to pass through, allow obtaining the maximum yield of finished products, protect products from microbial damage and oxidation.

For the production of cellulose casings, cotton fibers, high-grade alpha-cellulose are used. This type of casings differs depending on the purpose, degree of extensibility, production method and shape. They are classified as inedible, elastic, thermally stable, moisture-, smoke-permeable, well-clipped, smoked.

The Solvi Pak company sells sausage casings of the following types: collagen, cellulose, polyamide - barrier, permeable.

Our company has extensive experience in the sale of sausage casings in a roll, so we can help you choose the best option that will meet the requirements of production, type of products and planned investments.

We offer casings from the following manufacturers:

Collagen casings

Collagen casings have the following properties: elasticity, fixed stuffing capacity, good vapor and gas permeability. The advantage is the fact that they can be used on all types of equipment. Products in such casings can be stored from 3 to 5 days, subject to the temperature regime.

Cutisin "Devro" (Czech Republic)

We sell Kutizin Select, Kutizin CRQ, Kutizin SE UV-X, FINE, AF, Edicol T. Casings are intended for the production of sausages, small sausages, cooked, cooked-smoked, semi-smoked and uncooked smoked sausages, lumpy smoked meats in a net, sausages in the form of ...

Nitta Casings Inc. (USA)

Nitta - Edible collagen casing for making sausages and small sausages

Polyamide sausage casings

All polyamide casings are divided into permeable and impermeable (barrier) ones.

Impermeable shells do not allow steam, moisture, gas to pass through, allow to obtain the maximum yield of finished products, protect products from microbial damage and oxidation. Sausages in such casings have a maximum shelf life compared to other types of casings. The disadvantage is the impossibility of obtaining products with a natural smoked aroma, so manufacturers have to add flavorings.

Permeable polyamide casings combined in themselves best qualities barrier and permeable shells. They allow to achieve traditional organoleptic characteristics, products have a pronounced smell and taste of smoking. They have such properties as vapor permeability and ability to heat shrink, which guarantees the preservation of the appearance of the product, and high elasticity allows you to achieve the required filling caliber.

"Slava" (Russia)

Polyamide barrier- Lexalon, Koralon: multilayer and single-layer barrier sausage casings, used for the production of all types of cooked sausages, sausages with fillings, hams and pates, sausages, small sausages, pork sausages, mini-sausages.

Permeable polyamide (Fibrolux, Slava Lux, Slava Lux GP, Prestige): Designed for semi-smoked and cooked-smoked sausages, mini-sausages, frankfurters, small sausages, for products the production of which includes the smoking process (smoke roasting).

Biostar (Russia)

Polyamide permeable- Biolon Smok.

Polyamide barrier- Biolon Master (MS), Biolon Light (LT), Biolon Shape (SP) - synthetic multilayer heat-shrinkable barrier coblas casings

Poly Pak (Ukraine)

Polyamide barrier- Luga Bar, Luga-Mix, Luga-Fresh types Astoria, Sinyuga, Luga-Fresh Krantz. Luga-Fresh Gli - designed for the manufacture of all types of sausages, small sausages, mini-sausages, boiled, liverwurst, blood, fish sausages, pates, brawn, minced meat.

Polyamide permeable- Luga-Bar type Pro, Luga-Light type Pro, Luga-Star, Fibrostar, Luga-Smok - designed for the manufacture of all types of sausages, small sausages, pork sausages, mini-sausages using technologies including smoking (smoke roasting).

Cellulose sausage casings

Whiskeyse (France)

Nojax - Cellulose sausage and sausage casings.