Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Shaping by extruding into chemically reactive fluid
Reexamination Certificate
1998-09-23
2001-03-20
Corbin, Arthur L. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Shaping by extruding into chemically reactive fluid
C426S513000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06203832
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for the production of molded meat or meat-like products and more particularly for forming casingless sausages and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the preparation of meat products such as sausages and the like, it is desirable to keep costs as low as possible. For this reason, skinless products such as sausages and wieners may be preferred to sausages with skins since the cost of applying an edible skin to a sausage can amount to a substantial part of the total manufacturing cost. By “skinless” is meant a product free from an external supporting membrane of collagen or natural gut.
A conventional method of producing skinless products involves the use of a permeable cellulose casing which may be inedible, or at least unacceptable for consumption. This is filled with a meat paste, formed into lengths, and thereafter heat processed to form a heat coagulated protein skin. The meat lengths are then cooled after which the cellulose casing is removed. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,707.
Various devices have been proposed for forming and processing sausages and the like without using casings. For example, a formed food batter or emulsion can be shaped and cooked within an elongated tube utilizing end shaping plugs such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,113,890. This requires a continuous inserting of the batter and plugs into the tube and the subsequent removal thereof thus involving tedious manual labor.
Another method of preparing a skinless product without the use of casing is to treat the surface of such product after it has been shaped with a suitable fluid, for example, an edible acid which reacts with protein and precipitates to form a cohesive surface for the sausage paste. U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,756 discloses a process in which a meat emulsion is extruded, and then treated in an acid bath, either before or after cutting into suitable lengths for frankfurters and the like. The treating of the extruded meat does, however, present handling difficulties.
Other suggestions in the art are shown in patents that call for shaping of a batter-like product within a tube or mold and thereafter removing the finally shaped product from the mold. These techniques require complicated apparatus and often include a complex molding structure having various moving parts and multiple components which, at times, must be accurately indexed and aligned with respect to each other.
While there have been numerous attempts to economically and efficiently produce and market casingless sausages and the like, there are still difficulties associated with multiple handlings of the product that need to be refined and ideally eliminated. It is to these improved objectives that the present invention is directed.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The method of the present invention for forming casingless sausage-like products encompasses the simultaneous treatment of an extrudable meat emulsion to form a generally cylindrical configuration and a cohesive surface with a denaturing solution. The extruded skin-formed emulsion is then shaped into segments or links of defined length and thereafter introduced into an appropriate cooking apparatus.
The apparatus of the present invention for forming casingless sausages and the like includes an extrusion means, a cylindrically shaping and skin-forming station receiving the continuous extrusion, segment-forming apparatus to separate the continuous material into segments of defined length, and cooking means for cooking the formed segments.
In an alternative embodiment, a heat exchanger is placed in the extrusion line so that a higher than ambient temperature is applied to the continuous extrusion to enhance the texture of the surface area to more closely resemble a skin and to shorten the cooking time. Thus, the extrusion when formed into segments has a firmer outer surface before being introduced to the cooking apparatus.
A hose end clamp may also be used with either embodiment to vary the diameter of the extruded material for whatever application is needed.
The method and apparatus of the invention provides substantial savings in cost and labor by eliminating the need for casings and the equipment typically associated with the use of such materials.
From the foregoing summary of the invention, it can be seen that an objective of the present invention is to provide a method for transforming batter into shaped products without utilizing casings and the intricate equipment normally associated with such a method.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for making sausage and the like that does not require the use of casing removal equipment.
Thus, there has been outlined, in summary form, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description that follows may be better understood and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, obviously, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways.
It is also to be understood that the phraseology and terminology herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limited in any respect. Those skilled in the art will appreciate the concept upon which this disclosure is based and that it may readily be utilized as a basis for designing other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the invention. It is also to be understood that the abstract is neither intended to define the invention or the application which is measured by the claims nor to limit its scope in any way. This summary and these objectives of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objectives obtained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which like characters of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3503756 (1970-03-01), Wistreich
patent: 3885053 (1975-05-01), Townsend
patent: 4636393 (1987-01-01), Lynch et al.
Corbin Arthur L.
Kilpatrick & Stockton LLP
Sara Lee Corporation
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