PROCESS FOR PRODUCING FRESH SAUSAGE

Abstract: Co-extruding a strand of edible material to create a substantially uniform layer of an edible casing forming material around an inner strand of food material; coagulating said casing forming material to form a casing around said strand of food material; linking said strand into individual portions; and treating said casing forming material with a flowable anti-dehydration agent ("ada") before or after said linking.

Description: Title of Invention: PROCESS FOR PRODUCING FRESH SAUSAGE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the preparation of collagen-coated foodstuffs, especially fresh sausages. There are two approaches to making sausages. The first is to take natural or artificial sausage casing and stuff it with sausage meat. In recent times, it has become known to co-extrude a strand of sausage material which has an inner core of meat emulsion having an outer surface material that can be coagulated to provide an encasement for the strand. The outer surface material may consist of a gel with a collagen protein. Recent developments on coextrusion technology have made it possible to make market acceptable fresh sausages, by intensifying the coagulation process prior to linking the coextruded sausage strand. Coagulation refers to the step of hardening the casing. This is principally achieved in two ways; first by removal of water from the collagen gel coating on the sausage; and secondly by crosslinking the collagen fibers in the gel to form a stable network. Crosslinking is often facilitated by adding crosslinking agents to the gel such as liquid smokes. However these methods haven't sufficiently dealt with the bursting or splitting of the casing during cooking of the sausages. Similar to prefabricated collagen casings, coextended casings have the tendency to split during cooking. This is especially a problem when a meat formulation is used where the meat does not adhere to the casing. Generally speaking this is the case for meat formulations which have a low lean meat content versus fat, water and other ingredients. For example most British breakfast sausages, characterized by the ingredient of rusk or stale bread crumbs, generally have a low casing to meat adherence. When during cooking the heat is applied to the sausage evenly and slowly, tendency to burst is low. Methods as grilling, the most popular method of cooking for British breakfast sausages, give high level of split sausages because heat generally is intensively applied to the sausage only from one direction. Low level of splits of fresh sausages, especially for the British breakfast sausage market, is a quality mark. It is therefore a principle object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing fresh sausages with an edible casing in which the previous problems and disadvantages of the known methods do not occur. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method for reducing unwanted casing splits during cooking of fresh co-extruded sausage product. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method for reducing unwanted casing splits during cooking of fresh British breakfast sausages. It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel method of applying a liquid to the casing of fresh sausages, to prevent splitting of the casing during cooking. An additional object of the present invention is to create by co-extrusion a substantially uniform layer of a collagen containing gel around an elongated strand of foodstuff, and treating the casing with a liquid to prevent the dehydration of the casing during cooking. These and other objects will become clear from the following description of the present invention. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Co-extruding a strand of edible material to create a substantially uniform layer of an edible casing forming material around an inner strand of food material; coagulating said casing forming material to form a casing around said strand of food material; linking said strand into individual portions; and treating said casing forming material with a flowable anti- dehydration agent ("ada") before or after said linking. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The present invention provides a process for coagulating co-extruded collagen containing gel surrounding fresh edible food stuffs, i.e. sausages. Co- extrusion methods are mainly being used for co-extrusion of sausage or sausage like materials. While the instant process relates particularly to the manufacturing of sausages, it may also be used in the production of other collagen coated foodstuffs, such as fish or meat products containing vegetable or cheese or both. The term "sausage" as used herein refers to any type of emulsified food product that is formed into fresh sausage links or the like. The invention is neither limited to collagen coated foodstuffs, but may also be applied for co-extruding foodstuffs with a different kind of coating material such as casein, soy, wheat, cellulose, alginate, chitosan or starch based gels. The invention is particularly useful when intensified coagulation methods are used for coextruded fresh sausage, which result is a strong casing surrounding the fresh product, with characteristics such as bite, mouthfeel and cooking behavior much similar to regular prefabricated collagen casings. These fresh sausage types have the tendency to show casing splits during cooking, especially during grilling. British breakfast sausage characterized by the ingredient of rusk or stale bread crumbs, especially have the tendency to split because of the generally low adherence of the casing to the meat. Existing coagulation methods involve the use of prolonged brine treatment of more than 10 seconds and the used of a highly soluble salts with disassociation of more than 0.8 moles per liter of water at 20 degrees Celsius. These brine treatments are preferably used in combination with a collagen containing gel having a dry matter content of between 3 and 25%, and/or in combination with an coextruding device of the disk type, and/or a collagen gel having an inorganic acid therein, and/or a linking method whereby stretch is applied on the coextruded sausage rope as it is fed into the linking device. Infra red or ultra violet radiation treatment of the sausage rope as part of the coagulation process is also advantageously applied. Extensive trials on British breakfast sausages show that when a lubricant is applied to the casing to prevent dehydration of the casing during cooking the splitting is reduced dramatically. Sudden dehydration of the collagen structure in the casing through heat build up, especially when the heat is not applied to the casing evenly ( such as when grilled), leads to splitting of the casing. A well chosen and applied lubricant can elevate this problem. Suitable lubricants are preferably selected from the group of edible fats, edible oils and edible polyhydric alcohols. The lubricant may be applied to the collagen structure of the casing is several manners. First of all it may be incorporated into the collagen gel at the gel manufacturing level. However this method has several drawbacks. Lubricants can influence the stability of the collagen gel, giving shorten shelf lives of the gel. Also the level of lubricants especially when applied in combination with other functional additives such as crosslinking agents, colorants and flavorings , cannot be adjusted to the specific requirements of the sausage product, to achieve a optimum result. It is therefor preferred to apply the lubricant just prior to or after co-extrusion of the collagen gel. Prior to coextrusion the best method to apply the lubricant we've found is by injecting the lubricant into the gel-flow that leads to the coextruder. Often advantageously inline mixing is applied to achieve a homogeneous distribution of the lubricant through the gel. The lubricant may also be applied just after the point of extrusion by it being present in the brine bath. A separate bath or shower after the brine bath may also be employed. A first requirement of the lubricant is that it must sufficiently adhere to the collagen structure of the casing. Especially when applied in the gel before extrusion. The lubricant must be able to mix with the watery collagen gel. Generally therefore oils and fats are only applicable after coextrusion and coagulation in the brine bath, as a dip or spray. Water soluble or dispensable lubricants, though applicable in the gel prior to extrusion, must not be lost in excess amount during the brine treatment. Until 60% of the water in the casing is removed through osmosis during the brine treatment, a lubricant therefore must have good adherence to the collagen fibers in the casing to prevent excess loss into the brine bath. Glycerin is an effective lubricant to be applied through injection just prior to coextrusion. Especially when the glycerin is injected simultaneously with the crosslinking agent such as a liquid smoke, one can create a mixture which gives the right level of strength and lubrication to the casing which are required. More specifically, the salient features of this invention include the following: The casing forming material is treated with a flowable anti-dehydration agent ("ada") before or after the linking steps. The ada is selected from the group of edible oils, edible fats, and/or polyhydric alcohols. The burning point of the edible oils, edible fats and/or polyhydric alcohols is above 70 degrees Celsius. The ada contains glycerin. The casing forming material contains collagen. The casing forming material has a dry matter of 3-25% by weight. The casing forming material involving the use of a cross-linking agent set in contact with the casing forming material. The ada is incorporated into the casing forming material prior to coextrusion. The ada is co-extruded simultaneously with the casing forming material around an inner strand of food material. The ada forms a layer between the inner strand of food material and the outer layer casing forming material. The ada material being incorporated in a salt containing solution. The ada is applied by passing the strand of sausage through a bath containing the ada. The ada is applied by showering the strand of sausage with the ada fluid. The excess ada fluid is removed from the sausage surface after the sausage surface has been created. It is therefore seen that this invention will achieve at least all of its stated objectives.

Claims: We claim: 1. A process for producing a fresh sausage product, comprising, co- extruding a strand of edible material to create a substantially uniform layer of an edible casing forming material around an inner strand of food material; coagulating said casing forming material to form a casing around said strand of food material; linking said strand into individual portions; and treating said casing forming material with a flowable anti-dehydration agent ("ada") before or after said linking. 2. A process according to claim 1 characterized by said food material containing fresh meat. 3. A process according to claim 1 characterized by said fresh sausage being a United Kingdom sausage. 4. A process according to claim 3 characterized by said United Kingdom breakfast sausage containing RUSK. 5. A process according to claim 1 characterized by said ada being selected from the group of edible oils, edible fats, and/or polyhydric alcohols. 6. A process according to claim 5 characterized by the burning point of said edible oils, edible fats and/or polyhydric alcohols being above 70 degrees Celsius. 7. A process according to claim 1 characterized by said casing forming material having a dry matter of 3-25% by weight. 8. A process according to claim 1 characterized by the coagulation of said casing forming material involving the use of a cross linking agent set in contact with said casing forming material. 9. A process according to claim 1 characterized by said ada being incorporated into the casing forming material prior to co-extrusion. 10. A process according to claim 1 characterized by the ada is co-extruded simultaneously with the casing forming material around an inner strand of food material. 11. A process according to claim 10 characterized by said ada forming a layer between the inner strand of food material and the outer layer of casing forming material. 12. A process according to claim 10 characterized by the ada being incorporated in the salt containing solution. 13. A process according to claim 1 characterized by the ada is applied by passing the strand of sausage through a bath containing said ada. 14. A process according to claim 1 characterized by the ada being applied by showering the strand of sausage with the ada fluid. 15. A process according to claim 1 characterized by that excess ada fluid removed from the sausage surface.

Inventors: KOBUSSEN JAAP, KOBUSSEN JOS, KOBUSSEN MART, RIEMENS JACQUES, KOBUSSEN, JAAP, KOBUSSEN, JOS, KOBUSSEN, MART, RIEMENS, JACQUES
Applicants: KOBUSSEN JAAP, KOBUSSEN JOS, KOBUSSEN MART, RIEMENS JACQUES, TOWNSEND ENGINEERING CO, KOBUSSEN, JAAP, KOBUSSEN, JOS, KOBUSSEN, MART, RIEMENS, JACQUES, TOWNSEND ENGINEERING COMPANY
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A23L1
IPC codes: A22C11, A22C13, A23L1