Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Processes – Molding – casting – or shaping
Reexamination Certificate
2002-09-03
2004-05-11
Yeung, George C. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Processes
Molding, casting, or shaping
C099S353000, C099S494000, C099S516000, C426S277000, C452S037000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06733812
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
Sausages and other formed meat products such as bologna, frankfurters, vienna sausages, and the like are typically made by extruding a proteinaceous meat emulsion or batter into an artificial casing of the desired size and shape and then cooking the batter within the casing. Thereafter, the casing is peeled from the meat product and discarded. Once the casing has been removed, the shaped meat product can be cut into predetermined lengths, placed in suitable containers, and then heated to cook and sterilize the product.
In order to form and process sausages and the like without the need to use casings with their additional costs and problem of disposing of the used casings, various devices and methods for making casingless sausages have been proposed. Among these is the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,056,425 and 5,118,519 to Mally. The Mally patents disclose apparatus which ejects partially shaped products onto a conveyor assembly. According to the patents, batter is pumped into a molding tube, and a treating assembly is formed as a continuation of the molding tube. The treating assembly functions to introduce treating fluid, typically a food grade acid solution, which causes a proteinaceous skin to form about the batter. A piston or ram mechanism then causes the batter with proteinaceous skin to be deposited onto a conveyor belt. The conveyor belt then continues into a cooking apparatus. Once cooked, the product is canned.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,053 to Townsend also discloses a process of forming a skin on an extruded meat emulsion by applying an acid to the surface of the emulsion as the extrusion proceeds. The Townsend patent relies on the use of sintered metal to apply the acid.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for forming a proteinaceous emulsion or batter into shaped food products such as sausages without the use of a casing. A supply of suitable proteinaceous emulsion is provided and such emulsion is conveyed under pressure into an elongated hollow stuffing tube to form a continuous length of shaped emulsion. Thereafter the shaped emulsion is directed into a molding tube which is slideably mounted about the stuffing tube. As the emulsion enters the molding tube, the pressure of the emulsion causes the molding tube to move away from the stuffing tube.
A treating fluid, such as a diluted food grade acid, is directed to the interior surface of the molding tube at about the point where the emulsion first enters the molding tube. The treating fluid is directed to the interior of the molding tube in such a manner that the interior of the molding tube is continuously wetted by the treating fluid as the molding tube moves relative to the stuffing tube. This ensures that the entire surface of the shaped emulsion is contacted by the treating fluid thereby forming a proteinaceous skin about the shaped emulsion.
After the molding tube is filled with the emulsion, it is separated from the stuffing tube, subjected to a heat treatment, and a length of formed sausage is removed from the molding tube and subjected to further processing.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3589407 (1971-06-01), Foldenauer
patent: 3885053 (1975-05-01), Townsend
patent: 3889013 (1975-06-01), Moule
patent: 4207281 (1980-06-01), Bernard
patent: 4280803 (1981-07-01), Treharne
patent: 4294858 (1981-10-01), Moule
patent: 4404229 (1983-09-01), Treharne
patent: 4511592 (1985-04-01), Percel et al.
patent: 4747186 (1988-05-01), Spike
patent: 4772477 (1988-09-01), Weiss et al.
patent: 4806092 (1989-02-01), Linss et al.
patent: 4989505 (1991-02-01), Mally
patent: 5056425 (1991-10-01), Mally
patent: 5115732 (1992-05-01), Mally
patent: 5118519 (1992-06-01), Mally et al.
patent: 5141762 (1992-08-01), Mally
patent: 5236731 (1993-08-01), Becker
patent: 5573455 (1996-11-01), Barilli
patent: RE35426 (1997-01-01), Mally
patent: 6444248 (2002-09-01), Franklin et al.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/158,578, R. Franklin et al., filed May 30, 2002.
Franklin Rodney L.
Mentjes Marvin J.
Mueller Richard A.
Triplett Charles A.
Buckley Linda M.
Edwards & Angell LLP
Jensen Steven M.
The Dial Corporation
Yeung George C.
LandOfFree
Apparatus and method for forming casingless sausages does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Apparatus and method for forming casingless sausages, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Apparatus and method for forming casingless sausages will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3197854