Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A22—BUTCHERING; MEAT TREATMENT; PROCESSING POULTRY OR FISH
  • A22C—PROCESSING MEAT, POULTRY, OR FISH
  • A22C13/00—Sausage casings
  • A22C13/0013—Chemical composition of synthetic sausage casings

Definitions

• the invention relates to a gathered, tubular food casing based on cellulose. It is particularly suitable for the production of sausages.
• Food casings especially sausage casings, are often offered in a form in which about 15 to 50 m of the casing are pushed together to form sticks of about 20 to 60 cm in length.
• the gathering of the artificial intestine also known as stocking
• the gathering places a high load on the casing. Immediately before or during the gathering, it is therefore usually from the inside, from the outside or sprayed or wetted with water and / or oil from both sides to make them more supple. This prevents cracks from forming on the ruffles.
• Gathering tools themselves can be designed in very different ways. For example, gathering wheels are known which can be smooth or serrated on the outside, as well as surrounding belts. Once the desired number of meters has been gathered, the cover is cut off.
• the caterpillar produced in this way should be as stable as possible and self-supporting. For storage and transport, it is still often with a
• outer packaging generally a net or a film.
• sleeves are also known which have been gathered on a dimensionally stable sleeve.
• the caterpillar is drained again when it is filled with sausage meat.
• several caterpillars are placed in a storage container, from which individual caterpillars are then automatically removed and onto the filling tube of the high-speed filling machine be pushed. It is crucial that the caterpillar does not break, even if it has been watered. Otherwise there is a malfunction in the process, which has to be eliminated laboriously by hand.
• the portioning of the sausages and the sealing or tying of the ends of the sausages, which are necessary after filling, are usually also carried out automatically. In this way, i.a. also made sausages.
• the sausage meat is portioned by the pump of the filling machine. Each time the conveying process is interrupted, the corresponding sausage length is generated by twisting off. The whole process runs fully automatically with high
• tubular food casings based on cellulose have mainly been produced using the viscose process.
• the cellulose is then regenerated from the viscose in various precipitation and washing baths.
• the first precipitation bath is usually an aqueous sodium sulfate / sulfuric acid solution (the so-called Müller bath).
• Aqueous ammonium sulfate / sodium sulfate / sulfuric acid baths are also used for the precipitation.
• the tube made of regenerated cellulose is then washed, if necessary treated with a plasticizer (such as glycerol), provided on the inside and / or outside with an impregnation (for example to make it easier to peel), dried to the intended final moisture and rolled up.
• the roll goods can then be gathered in sections as described.
• the mechanical strength of non-watered and watered caterpillars made of tubular Cellulose casings which are produced by the viscose process, however, often leave something to be desired.
• the object was therefore to improve the mechanical stability of shirred sticks made of tubular cellulose casings.
• This object was achieved in that instead of the cellulose casings produced by the viscose process, casings produced by the N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) process are used for gathering.
• NMMO N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide
• the present invention accordingly relates to a caterpillar made of a tubular food casing based on cellulose, which is characterized in that the casing is produced by the NMMO process.
• the casing (in the unracked state) preferably has a nominal caliber of 14 to 50 mm, preferably 16 to 25 mm. It is particularly suitable for use as a peel, particularly in the manufacture of sausages.
• a caterpillar comprises about 30 to 70 m, preferably about 40 to 60 m, of the casing.
• NMMO N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide
• pulp for example made of wood or cotton
• pulp is mashed at room temperature in a 60% by weight N-methyl-morpholine-N-oxide solution with stirring.
• water is then distilled off until the residue consists practically only of cellulose and NMMO monohydrate.
• the solvent then consists of 87.7% by weight of NMMO and the rest of water.
• the cellulose is completely dissolved in it at a temperature of around 90 to 105 ° C. Water is then drawn off with stirring and heating under reduced pressure, so that the solvent for the
• Cellulose consists of 90.5 to 92.5% by weight of NMMO and 9.5 to 7.5% by weight of water.
• the proportion of cellulose is 6 to 15% by weight, based on the total weight of the spinning solution.
• Another advantage of the NMMO process is that the length of the cellulose chains remains practically unchanged (an average degree of polymerization DP of 400 to 650 is usual). In contrast, the viscose process causes a noticeable chain breakdown.
• Synthetic polymers or copolymers and sugar esters are suitable. They act primarily as permanent ("primary") plasticizers. They also reduce the tendency to crystallize
• the proportion of these additional components can be up to 25% by weight, based on the weight of the dry cellulose. In general, however, the proportion of these components is not more than about 1 to 20% by weight.
• the NMMO / cellulose solution is then extruded downward (“spun”) with the aid of an annular gap die.
• the temperature of the spinning solution in the annular gap nozzle is preferably approximately 85 to 105 ° C.
• the annular gap generally has a width of 0.1 to 2, 0 mm, preferably 0.2 to 2.0 mm, the width must be adapted to the "delay" (quotient of outflow speed and take-off speed).
• the air gap between the annular gap nozzle and the surface of the precipitation bath is transversely stretched.
• the air gap in which the blow molding takes place is preferably 1 to 50 cm, particularly preferably 2.5 to 20 cm. It also depends on the diameter (Caliber) of the tubular film after the blow molding.
• the blow molding can be effected by compressed air or other gases under a corresponding pressure, which get into the interior of the hose through openings in the nozzle body.
• the transverse strength of the hose is increased considerably by stretching in the transverse direction.
• the spinning bath solution After entering the spinning bath, the spinning bath solution also reaches the interior of the cellulose tube through appropriate devices in the nozzle body. As a result, the hose solidifies faster, and at the same time the inner sides of the hose are prevented from sticking together.
• the spinning bath itself is an NMMO-containing aqueous solution.
• This solution contains about 10 to 20% by weight of NMMO.
• the NMMO can be recovered practically quantitatively from the precipitation bath and reused. Used aqueous NMMO solutions can be cleaned, for example, by means of ion exchange columns. The water can then be removed in vacuo until the
• NMMO concentration has reached 60% by weight. This NMMO solution can be used again for the production of spinning solution.
• NMMO-containing felling skids For further consolidation, it is expedient to pass the lay-flat hose through several NMMO-containing felling skids. If the NMMO
• plasticizer skid It contains an aqueous solution of a plasticizer for cellulose. Particularly suitable are polyols and polyglycols, especially glycerin.
• the aqueous solution generally contains about 5 to
• the plasticizer or the mixture of various plasticizers are usually between 20 and 80 ° C, preferably between 30 and 70 ° C.
• the tubes are then passed through a dryer in the inflated state, hot air dryers having proven particularly suitable. It is advisable to dry at a decreasing temperature (from about 150 ° C. at the inlet to about 80 ° C. at the outlet of the dryer).
• the swelling value drops to 130 to 180%, preferably 140 to 170%, depending on the drying conditions and glycerol content.
• the tube is preferably inflated to the original caliber in order to leave the degree of transverse orientation unchanged.
• the hose After leaving the dryer, the hose is moistened again to a water content of 8 to 20% by weight, preferably 16 to 18% by weight, in each case based on the total weight of the hose. It can then be laid flat and wound up using a pair of squeeze rollers.
• the casings can also be provided on the inside and / or outside with an impregnation or coating, for example liquid smoke impregnation, equipment for further increasing the caterpillar stability or an easy-peel inner preparation.
• the shell compressed into a caterpillar must already be provided with a closure at one end, so that the contents do not get onto the filling table and the following sausage chain is contaminated.
• the closure must be designed in such a way that it prevents the sausage meat from escaping, but not the air leakage, since otherwise the pressure equalization inside would be hindered.
• additional, separate sealing materials such as clips or clips made of plastic or metal, there is always the risk that they will get into the sausage inside with the sausage meat. It is therefore advantageous if the closure is formed by twisting or knotting the casing material itself (DE-C 12 97 508, DE-B 15 32 029, DE-C 23 17 867; EP-A 129 100).
• the end closure is created by pulling out a short piece of the caterpillar with special pliers and pushing it back into the interior of the caterpillar after a short rotation.
• Another possibility is to deform the last millimeter of the caterpillar with a specially shaped firing pin and at the same time to push it into its inner bore.
• the gathering of the cellulose casings produced by the NMMO process can be carried out by processes which are known per se to the person skilled in the art.
• the above-described effect of the improved cohesion of the caterpillar is not dependent on a particular gathering method. Suitable methods for gathering are described, for example, in DE-B 12 68 01 1, DE-B 16 32 137, DE-C 16 32 139,
• the surface structure of the casings was examined. It turned out that there is a significant difference.
• the shells manufactured using the NMMO process have a much smoother surface than those manufactured using the viscose process. The difference is clearly visible in the images that can be obtained with a scanning force field microscope (Atomic Force Microscope, AFM).
• FIG. 1 shows an AFM image of the surface of a watered tube made of regenerated cellulose, which was produced by the viscose process (using a sodium sulfate / sulfuric acid precipitation bath).
• the distance between the highest and lowest points on the surface is more than 1000 nm.
• the caterpillars according to the invention can - with the same type of gathering - be loaded with up to 1600 g, generally 1200 to 1500 g, before they break (measuring method for determining the breaking strength see under Example 1).
• the increased stability of the shirred caterpillars according to the invention is presumably attributable to the substantially smoother surface of the casing, which allows the pleats to stick together more strongly.
• the arithmetic mean roughness R a determined in accordance with DIN 4768, is in the range of approximately 5 to 14 nm for the casings produced by the NMMO process, and in the range of 70 to 140 nm for the casings produced by the viscose process.
• Optical micrographs also show that the shells obtained by the NMMO process have membranes made from regenerated cellulose with a much higher density. This leads to a higher strength of the casings or, with the same strength, allows a smaller wall thickness.
• the smoother surface also makes the shell easier to peel off.
• the easy-peel preparation usually applied to the inside of the shell can therefore be reduced or even omitted entirely.
• the electrokinetic potential (zeta potential) of the shell was also determined. This quantity describes the charge relationships at the interface between a membrane and a liquid phase. Conclusions can be drawn from this about the nature and properties of the surface. It also provides information on how the electrolyte and whose pH affects the surface. In aqueous media, electrical charging of the membrane surface is observed, which is caused by dissociation of functional groups of polymers on the surface of the membrane or specific adsorption of ions from electrolyte solutions. The resulting polarity of the polymer material is responsible for the formation of an electrical double layer. The potential of this electrical double layer cannot be measured directly. The zeta potential is therefore used to characterize the electrical properties.
• the potential builds up as soon as the surface of the membrane which is capable of dissociation and the electrolyte solution move tangentially to one another. It corresponds to the net charge density of the membrane surface.
• the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski equation for describing the zeta potential is:
• the ⁇ potential in the pH range from 6 to 10.5 was approximately -5 to -25 mV. In the pH range from 3.5 to 5.5, it was around + 18 to -15 mV.
• the shirred caterpillar according to the invention is particularly suitable for processing on high-speed filling machines. The production disruptions due to broken caterpillars described above hardly occur anymore. The caterpillars can be removed from the stuffing horn with ease and filled with sausage meat. The caterpillars according to the invention are particularly suitable for the production of
• a cellulose gel tube of 18 mm caliber was produced using the amine oxide process and plasticized with glycerin. Immediately before drying, at the entrance to the drying tunnel, the hose was removed with a solution
• the tube was first inflated to a
• the breaking strength was determined by storing the caterpillar horizontally in such a way that a 15 cm long section remained without support. A wire bracket (diameter of the wire about 2 mm) was then placed over the middle of this section, which was loaded with more and more weights until the caterpillar broke. The weight of the caterpillar was measured. This measurement method was also used in the following examples.
• the caterpillar was then terminated.
• the caterpillars were pushed individually into a correspondingly shaped device and the last pleats were pressed into the caterpillar bore under mechanical deformation.
• the caterpillars were then wrapped in foil and placed in a box. The film was shaped so that the caterpillars can be removed from the consumer without risk of breakage and transferred to the magazine of the automatic filling machine.
• Example 1 was repeated with the difference that instead of the easy-peel solution described there, a liquid smoke preparation was used
• the impregnation thus produced ensured easy peelability and at the same time caused the smell of smoke to pass onto the surface of the sausage meat.
• a cellulose gel tube was produced according to Example 1, but this time without an internal preparation.
• the casing was dried to 8 to 10% residual moisture.
• Example 4 The composition was chosen so that the caterpillar assumed a moisture content of 16 to 18% at the desired surface concentration of the active ingredients.
• the subsequent steps, end closure and packaging were carried out as in Example 1.
• the caterpillar withstood a load of 1,350 g.
• Example 4 The caterpillar withstood a load of 1,350 g.
• Example 3 was repeated with the difference that instead of the aqueous composition described therein, a solution was used
• the caterpillar was loadable with 1,250 g.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Zoology (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Processing Of Meat And Fish (AREA)
• Meat, Egg Or Seafood Products (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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• 2000
  • 2000-03-03 DE DE10009979A patent/DE10009979A1/de not_active Withdrawn
• 2001
  • 2001-02-19 EP EP01905798A patent/EP1274313A1/de not_active Ceased
  • 2001-02-19 WO PCT/EP2001/001831 patent/WO2001064040A1/de not_active Application Discontinuation
  • 2001-02-19 US US10/220,439 patent/US20030062649A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-02-19 AU AU2001233783A patent/AU2001233783A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-02-19 JP JP2001562949A patent/JP2003525042A/ja not_active Withdrawn
  • 2001-02-19 RU RU2002126262/13A patent/RU2265336C2/ru not_active IP Right Cessation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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