Food casing package and method of preparing

Details Food casing package and method of preparing Food casing package and method of preparing

1997-08-04

2001-08-28

Gehman, Bryon P. (Department: 3728)

Special receptacle or package

Including ancillary article contacting medium

C053S431000, C138S118100, C206S802000, C426S135000, C428S034800

Reexamination Certificate

active

06279737

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a food casing package and more particularly to a food casing package comprising cut lengths of a cellulosic fibrous casing.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Cellulose food casings are well known in the art and are widely used in the stuffing of meat and processed meat products such as sausages and the like. One type of such casing is known as fibrous casing. Fibrous casing comprises a paper web coated with a regenerated cellulose. Briefly, in the process for making a fibrous casing a non woven paper such as an abaca paper is coated with a cellulose derivative such as viscose. The viscose coated paper then is contacted with a regenerating bath containing an acid. The resulting chemical reaction regenerates the cellulose derivative to form the so called “fibrous” casing. As a possible alternative, the paper web can be coated with a cellulose solution formed by the direct dissolution of cellulose with an amine oxide cellulose solvent. The regeneration of the cellulose is accomplished without a chemical reaction simply by contacting the solution-coated web with a cellulose regenerating bath comprising a cellulose nonsolvent such as water.
Fibrous casings take one of several forms which generally can be classified as “soak” or “no soak” depending upon whether the casings as sold, contain a sufficient amount of moisture to permit stuffing.
For example, a long length of fibrous casing containing about 7-10% moisture based on the weight of dry cellulose in the casing can be shirred to a much shorter length. These casings can be stored for long periods without the need for special packaging. Just prior to use, these casings are soaked in warm water for twenty minutes or more in order to provide the higher moisture content for stuffing. After soaking, the moisture content of the casing may be as high as 170% or more based on the weight of dry cellulose in the casing.
Another form of fibrous casing which is soaked are so-called cut lengths of casing. Cut lengths are much shorter pieces of fibrous casings, usually from about twelve inches (30.5 cm) up to about seventy-two inches (183 cm) in length. Cut lengths are closed at one end by longitudinally pleating the casing and then capping, clipping or tying the pleated end. Cut lengths of casing usually are bundled together and the entire bundle is placed in a soak tank of warm water prior to use to raise the moisture content to the same levels as noted above.
Long lengths of casing also can be sold in a premoisturized form. For example, for certain stuffing applications, a moisture level less than full soaked levels is sufficient. For these applications, the casing is provided with a controlled amount of moisture, usually from about 40 to about 45% based on the weight of dry cellulose. The moisturized casing then is shirred or reeled. The moisturized casing is packaged in moisture barrier packaging to retain its moisture content during storage prior to use. This casing is called “no soak” casing as it can be used right out of the package without the need to add further moisture such as by soaking. Due to the relatively high moisture content of this casing, it usually contains a water soluble antimycotic or is packaged by gas flushing to prevent the growth of mold on the casing.
While long lengths of fibrous casing, either in a shirred form or on reels, have been sold in a no soak condition, heretofore cut lengths of fibrous casing have not, to applicants' knowledge, been sold in a no soak condition. One reason for this is that cut lengths generally are used for stuffing applications where the casing must contain a very high moisture content for good stuffing performance and this moisture level is provided by soaking. It is difficult to apply this quantity of moisture to the casing in a commercial operation by means other than by soaking. For example, one way to moisturize a no soak casing is to spray a suitable aqueous solution onto the casing as the casing is being rewound from one reel to another. However, applying a “soaked” amount of moisture in this fashion may require slowing down the rereeling process or several passes through the moisturizing apparatus in order to bring the moisture content up to the level of a soaked casing. Another way to add moisture is to slug the casing by running the casing through an internally retained volume of water. However, this requires an unreasonable long slug length.
Another reason why cut lengths have not been provided in a soaked condition is that it is difficult to close the casing by clipping, tying or capping the end of the cut length when it contains very high, soaked levels of moisture. Accordingly, one would have to close the casing first and then add the moisture and this in turn requires handling the soaked casing for packaging. In view of the high moisture content of the soaked casing, handling it is a messy proposition. Also, the high moisture content of the casing renders it susceptible to mold growth and handling the soaked casing increases the likely hood of contamination.
For all of the above reasons it has been customary and most economical to provide cut lengths of fibrous casing in a relatively dry condition wherein the dry casings are soaked in warm water by the user just prior to use of the casing to provide the high moisture levels required for stuffing.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a cut length fibrous casing in a fully moisturized, ready-to-stuff condition.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a cut length fibrous casing which eliminates the need for soaking by the user just prior to stuffing.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a casing package comprising cut lengths of fibrous casing contained in a bag wherein the casings within the bag are in a substantially fully soaked condition and ready to use.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method of soaking and packaging cut lengths of fibrous casing which eliminates the need to handle a fully soaked fibrous casing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention, the relatively dry cut lengths of casing are closed at one end by tying, clipping or capping as is conventional in the art. The cut lengths are then bundled and inserted into an appropriate bag having moisture barrier properties. Such a bag, for example, preferably is a heat sealable multilayer plastic bag wherein one layer of the bag is a moisture barrier material such as PVDC. Free water is added to the bag in an amount sufficient to provide the casing with a total moisture content of about 100 to 170% and preferably from about 120 to 165% based on the weight of cellulose in the casing. The actual amount of water which is added may vary in each case depending upon other constituents which may be added along with the water such as, for example, an antimycotic or a softener such as glycerin. In particular the free water can be added as a solution such as salt water or an aqueous solution containing a water soluble antimycotic or water activity suppressant.
After free water is added to the bag, air is evacuated from the bag and the bag is sealed, preferably by heat sealing. Evacuation, preferably, is to a level of about 0.05 to 0.15 atmospheres. In evacuating the bag, care should be taken to prevent lowering the pressure to such an extent that a significant amount of the added free water within the bag also is removed.
It has been found, that over time the free water added to the bag will equilibrate throughout the cut lengths after evacuation. In the time prior to use, each of the cut lengths within the bag is moisturized to the desired moisture level. Moreover, the evacuation of air from the bag collapses the bag about the bundle of cut lengths so the free water which was added is pressed into close contact with the casing. This is believed to assist in the speedy uptake of the water by the casing. The evacuation also helps to retard mold growth on the moist casing by removing air and in addition forms a ti

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