GB616340A - Improvements in or relating to method of and apparatus for treating natural casings - Google Patents

Abstract

616,340. Tenderizing sausage skins. INDUSTRIAL PATENTS CORPORATION. March 7. 1945. No. 5684. Convention date, June 28, 1944. [Class 28 (ii)] Natural casings, e.g. the intestines of hogs, cattle or Indian sheep for making frankfurters and other sausages of similar size, are tenderized by exposing them to direct ultra violet light, emitting active waves in the range of 1800-2800 Angstrom units applied to the casings from about ten seconds to several minutes or until a range of 250,000 to 50,000,000 microwatt-seconds per sq. cm. are received on the casings. Graphs are shown giving the tenderizing effect for various periods of exposure. The casings are distanced from one to five inches from the light source. Each casing 10, Fig. 1, either filled or unfilled and smoked or unsmoked and mounted on a stick 4 is slowly rotated near the ultra violet lamp 2. In another arrangement, Figs. 9 and 10, linked sausages 14 are traversed by a conveyer 36 through a chamber 35 containing top and bottom staggered ultra violet lamps 42. Fig. 7 shows another arrangement of lamps where the sausages 14 are traversed logitudinally on a conveyor 20. The end part of Fig 5 shows the sausages 14 on sticks 15 after treatment, mounted on a smoking tree. The lamps may be either of the mercury vapour type or open arc e.g. carbon arc or an iron arc may be used. U.S.A. Specification 2,321,622 is referred to.