Method of artificial guts moistening

(54) Title: Use of a mixture of water and a surfactant for wetting and lubricating an artificial sausage skin (56) Published publications: SE 386 356 (A22C 13/00), SE 395 597 (A22C 13/00), SE 416 870 (A22C 13/00)

POOR

QUALITY 7702185-5

Artificial sausage skins made from various materials, such as regenerated cellulose and collagen, have been successfully used as a synthetic substitute for natural skins in the production of sausages. In the manufacture of these skins, the skins are extruded in the form of a continuous tube. To simplify handling and transport, the artificial sausage rails are folded from lengths of the order of 12-60 m into a joint. applied length of a few centimeters, for example 10-75 cm. The extruded rails usually have moisture levels in the range of 10-14. In order for these skins to be folded and used by the charcuterist at the padding, the rails require higher moisture contents, for example a moisture content of 14-20 for regenerated cellulose skins and a moisture content of 24-26. ° in for carbon sheet leather. When the moisture content of the skins is below the required range, the skins are far too fragile and often break when folded or padded.

In order to increase the moisture content of artificial sausage skins so that they are suitable for folding, it has been proposed to internally moisten artificial sausage skins while simultaneously lubricating the skin on a waxing machine by spraying a stream of water and a separate stream of lubricant against the walls of the skirt through that mandrel. , on which the folding occurs. Wetting has also been accomplished by spraying water on the crease wheels or creases, after which these wheels or bands are brought into contact with the outer surface of the leather. In these processes, it has been proposed to add wetting agents in a proportion of about 0.02-0.04% by weight of the solution to increase the wetting rate of the skin.

It has also been proposed to apply coatings to the inside of regenerated cellulose sausage skins during the creasing process. I) e coatings used in these processes are applied to the skin to improve the peelability of the skins from the sausages made therein. In these particular processes, the lubricants used are water emulsions of vegetable oil, mineral oil or paraffin oil.

It has also been proposed to moisten artificial sausage skins after being folded by spraying a mixture of water and lubricant over the surface of the pleated skin. The lubricants used in the mixture consisted of aqueous emulsions of vegetable, animal or refined oils.

Other work shows that various coatings have been applied to the inside of artificial sausage skins of regenerated cellulose by

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that coating solutions were sprayed through the folding mandrel. These coating solutions typically contained about 0.2-2% by weight of cctyl alcohol, acetylated animal and vegetable fat monoglycerides, and fatty acid ketene dimers in a 12% glycerol aqueous solution.

The present invention relates to the use of a mixture containing water and about 0.5 to 5¾ of a water-dispersible, surfactant having lubricating properties as the only wetting and lubricating agent in a method of wetting an artificial sausage skin on a folding machine, wherein a moisture-releasing machine fluid is contacted by the inner wall of a folded skin and the skin is then folded, wherein the mixture is applied to the skin in an amount which provides from about 0.0023 to 0.23 mg of surfactant per cm of the skin.

The present invention produces artificial sausage skins with fewer defects in damage to the crease mandrels, fewer small holes, and higher elasticity to prevent breakage during padding. The rails moistened according to the invention can be folded on conventional uninterrupted folding machines, which often occur when water emulsions of mineral oil and vegetable oil are used. The method of the invention also provides a sausage skin having a substantially uniform moisture content and which does not grow from its compressed state immediately after removal from the crease.

The term "artificial sausage skins" as used herein is intended to include synthetic skins made from regenerated cellulose, fiber skins such as those produced by forming a tube of long-fiber hemp paper, impregnating the tube with viscose and regenerating the cellulose in and on the tube, and synthetic skins, made from of collagen, amylose, starch or alginates.

The moisture-releasing fluid for wetting the skin is a substantially homogeneous mixture consisting of water and a water-dispersible surfactant with lubricating properties. By surfactants having lubricating properties are meant those surfactants which are capable of being absorbed onto the surface of the skin, so that when the skin is passed over the crease mandrel, the shear forces are absorbed by the surfactant at least to a considerable proportion. If the surfactant does not have sufficient lubricating properties, the skin will tend to adhere or adhere to the crease mandrel and reinsert the machine. Clogging is commercially undesirable to any significant extent, ie one thread per 10 lengths, eg 15000-18000 m.

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The surfactant should be dispersible in water by simple agitation and in the absence of emulsifiers. It should also remain in a constant dispersion when dispersed in water for a period of at least 4 hours without any mixing. As stated in the foregoing, water emulsions of lubricating oils have been used to lubricate the inner wall of artificial sausage skins, so that the skin will slip over the mandrel, but this oil lubricant has a tendency to delay moisture due to its water insolubility or low dispersibility. water. It is necessary 1 (1) to moisturize the skin during the short period of time between the contact with the water spray and the contact with the crease wheels to prevent damage to the skin.

The water dispersible surfactants of the present invention not only improve wet wetting and propagation to provide a quick wetting of the skin, but also provide a thin, even coating of a lubricant over the skin surface so that it will easily slip over the crease mandrel. The surfactant lubricant does not delay the wetting, as occurs with water non-dispersible lubricants.

The surfactant with lubricating properties is used in the wetting fluid at a content of about 0.5-5% by weight of the liquid. When a smaller proportion of surfactant with lubricating properties is used than about 0.5% by weight, an insufficient amount of surfactant is applied to the surface of the skin to allow sufficient lubrication of the skin to pass over the crease mandrel. This feature differs from the prior art in which surfactants were added to the water and sprayed onto the inner wall of the skin at a level of about 1/20 and very often about 1/40 of what is required to achieve the lubrication properties required in the folding process, notwithstanding that a humidification was obtained. However, most of the previously used surfactant is used to improve the wetting of the skin, i.e. the penetration of water into the wall of the skin, and not for lubrication.

If the level of surfactant with lubricating properties exceeds about 5% by weight of the moisturizing fluid, there is a tendency for the skin to be loaded with too much surfactant at a suitable moisture content. This load causes the wrinkled skin to grow or become incoherent. By this is meant that the skin does not remain in its compressed form, and is expanded upon removal from the fold. The folds do not stick to high levels and the skin

7702185-5 can become incoherent, ie the week does not adhere to each other and is difficult to handle without crime. Broken skins are not acceptable for fast, automatic padding machines.

For carrying out the invention, the preferred surfactant having lubricating properties is a partial fatty acid ester of sorbitol, and especially then sorbitan trioleate. Sorbitan trioleate provides a nonionic surfactant, which is a relatively viscous, oily liquid and dispersible in water, notwithstanding that it is insoluble therein. Although it is combined with water at levels of 0.5-5% by weight and preferably 0.8-1.5% by weight for application to the inner wall of the skin, the surfactant on the wall after wetting is typically present in an amount of 0.0023-0.023 mg. per cm. At this level of surfactant, the skin has outstanding physical properties. The sorbitan trioleate provides skins with fewer small holes and a higher resistance to breakage than has been achieved in any of the commercial processes. Another advantage of the surfactant is that the lubricating properties of sorbitan trioleate are such that the frequency of clogging of the folding machine for a sausage skin is less than about 1 per 15000-18000 m of sausage skin. This is significantly lower than that obtained with skins moistened with water through the crease mandrel using a water emulsion of mineral or vegetable oil as a lubricant.

A further advantage of sorbitan trioleate as a surfactant is that it improves the wetting of the skin so that an excellent flexibility is obtained when the skin reaches the folding wheels. As a result, the compression of the skin to several folds does not result in small holes. In fact, the frequency of small holes in skins of the specified type is remarkably low. The production of skins with relatively few small holes is related to the production of skins which have no tendency to grow after being folded. Thus, the pleated leather can be easily handled without the risk of breakage.

Although excellent results are obtained by spraying the inner wall of the artificial skin into the mixture of water and surfactant and especially then sorbitan trioleate, it is sometimes desirable during the folding to supply additional lubricant with the air stream. Lubricants can also be sprayed onto the outer surface to reduce wear on the crease wheels. Conventional lubricants for such use are vegetable and mineral oils in blend 4θ with acetylated monoglycerides and polyoxyethylene monoesters, e.g.

7702185-5 po yox in ethyl 1 cn-400 monostcarate.

In raising carbon layer skins, it has been found particularly suitable to incorporate a partial fatty acid ester of glycerol in the humidifier containing the partial fatty acid ester of sorbitol.

The addition of the glycerol fatty acid ester in the wetting fluid into> n:> causes significant linkage failure when the rails are used by the charcuterist. Thus, when the rails are stopped, twisted and linked by the carcassist, the rails occur if the rails are not sufficient_islandI moistened a crack at the shoulder portion of the meat-filled skin at the twist for the production of sausage links. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as linkage failure, and if the linkage failure exceeds 2-3 ° t, the rails are not acceptable for use.

Using a mixture of the partial fatty acid esters of glycerol and sorbitol, moistened artificial sausage skins, derived from animal skin collagen with greater elasticity, are prepared to prevent linkage breakage during padding.

Partial oleic acid esters of glycerol are particularly useful in the practice of the invention and are commercially available as mixtures of mono- and diglycerides from Glidden-Durkee Division of SCM under the trade name GMO. GMO is composed of 55% by weight of the oleic acid monoglyceride, 35% of the oleic acid diglyceride and a residue, consisting essentially of the oleic acid triglyceride.

The partial fatty acid esters of glycerol must be present in the aqueous humidifier at a content greater than 0.1% by weight. As will be shown below, incorporating 0.1% by weight of the partial fatty acid ester of glycerol into the wetting fluid provides an undesirable increase in linkage breakage upon padding of the collagen skin. In general, the amount of the glycerol partial fatty acid ester incorporated in the wetting medium should be on the order of about 0.12 to 1.0 weight percent. Although levels of the partial fatty acid ester of glycerol above 1 wt.% Can be incorporated into the wetting fluid, such excessive amounts will have little effect in improving collagen skin resistance to breakage and linkage processes in the charcuterie. When the level of the partial fatty acid ester of glycerol in the wetting medium is in the range of 0 ', 15 to 1.0% by weight, when applied to the inside of the skin during normal collagen skin folding, this content will give about 0.0015 to 0.015 mg of ⁴⁰ the glycerol ester per cm 2 of the skin surface.

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The sorbitan fatty acid ester (e.g., sorbitan trioleate) in the fatty acid ester mixture is incorporated into the wetting fluid at a level of from about 0.5 to about 2% by weight, and preferably from about 0.8 to 1.5% by weight. As a simple rule, when the content of mixed mono-ocly diesters of glycerol is lowered to the lower limit in the humidifier liquid, for example 0.2% by weight, the content of the partial fatty acid ester of the sorbitan is increased to the upper limit. Similarly, when the content of partial fatty acid ester of sorbitan, e.g., sorbitan trioleate, is reduced to the lower limit, e.g., 0.5 ^e₀, the content of 10 mixed glycerol esters is increased towards the upper limit, eg 1 s. The sorbitan ester is applied to the inner walls of the skin at levels from 0.006 to

0.015 mg / cm of skin surface.

The wetting liquid according to the invention should be applied to the skin prior to folding, and a number of ways are suitable. One of the better ways of introducing the wetting fluid into the interior of artificial sausage skin prior to folding is during the folding process itself. The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,451,827 is very suitable for effecting the wetting on the skin prior to folding. This apparatus is provided with a spraying system for applying the wetting fluid to the inner wall of the skin immediately before coming into contact with the folding wheels of the apparatus.

The following examples illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention. All percentages are calculated by weight.

Example 1. Artificial sausage skins of regenerated cellulose were moistened and lubricated substantially simultaneously during the folding process using the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,451,827. While this type of apparatus is preferred, since it includes a spray system for applying the liquid over the inside of the skin, other devices which allow the introduction of a moisture-releasing fluid as a thin layer on the inner wall of the skin during folding may be used.

Six moisture-emitting liquids were prepared by dispersing 0.25 °, 0.5 °, 1%, 1.5 °, 5 ° and 10 ° a sorbitan trioleate in aqueous solutions. Rolls of dry, i.e. containing 10% water, regenerated cellulose leather material of 24 mm diameter and a wall thickness of about 0.028 mm were passed over a folding mandrel and folded. When the rails were passed over the mandrel, the inner wall was brought into contact with a fine spray of the above liquids. Each skin is coated 7 with about 0.47 mg of moisture-emitting liquid per cm of skin. Every week

7702185-5 string of skins contained 37.5 m of leather and had from about 0.0012?

to about 0.0465 mg of sorbitan trioleate per cm of skin. The moisture content of the skin was about 18 plus or minus 2 V.

The rails wrinkled very evenly at levels of 0.5 », 1 ° t>, 1.5 Å,

5 and 10 ° t>, and they did not get stuck at about 1 5000 m a week. The rails showed a good behavior in use, ie when padding, but the strands coated with the fluid at levels of 0.25 and 10% sorbitan trioleate did not behave as well as the strands having the levels 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and at I. $ 0.25, several small grains appeared in the rails and more problems at folding, such as breakage. This was probably due to the low level of lubricant on the skin wall. The skin with the content of 10 "sorbitan trioleate could well be treated, but there was a tendency for the wrinkled strand to grow".

The best folding results were obtained at the content of 1-1.5 liters of sorbitan trioleate. The results from padding were noted at the contents

1-1.5 sorbitan trioleate. Padding tests showed that at content I s, the breaking frequency of a plant 1 was defective for 1400 strings tested. Another plant showed 30 defects for 200 tested strings. On the basis of a series of padding tests in practice, varying degrees

1400 strings with 1 defect in. one plant as the best result for another plant with 200 tested strands and 30 defects, the results obtained clearly showed a reduced frequency of padding failure compared to commercially available regenerated cellulose skins.

Although the results varied within the facilities, it was concluded that the skins generally performed much better than commercially available cellulose skins, prepared by prior art wetting methods.

Example 2. Folded strands of sausage skins are prepared by spraying a moisture-releasing fluid consisting of 1% sorbitan trioleate in water onto the inner wall of cellulose skins in the same manner as indicated in Example 1. The sorbitan trioleate was present at a content of about 0.0155 mg / cm and the moisture content of the skin was increased to about 18% by weight. Acetylated monoglyceride and 1 $ polyoxyethylene-400 monostearate were added with the air stream to inflate the skin as it was folded, and added to a content of about 0.01 g / m skin of 24 mm diameter.

Typical routine stuffing tests with several thousand strands of leather tested showed a breaking frequency of 0.2-0.4 ° t>. Normally, 40 skins moistened by prior art methods exhibit a mean fracture

7702185-5 frequency of about 2-3% under similar test conditions. Example 3. The procedure of Example 1 was repeated with the difference that lengths of 12-15 m of collagen skin were used instead of regenerated cellulose skins. The untreated collagen skin had a diameter of 21 mm, a wall thickness of about 0.68 mm and a moisture content of 8-12 ° i. The string of skins was passed over a folding mandrel and folded. As the skin passed over the mandrel, the inner wall was contacted with an aqueous solution containing 1 Λ sorbitan trioleate. The skin was folded evenly and was found to have a moisture content above 24%.

Example 4. Artificial sausage skins, extruded from collagen, were wetted during the folding process using the apparatus disclosed in U.S. Patent 3,451,827, using a spray system for supplying the liquid to the inner wall of the skin.

The wetting fluid was prepared by dispersing 1% sorbitan trioleate and 0.2 GNO in an aqueous solution. A roll of dry (i.e., 14% water content) flat collagen skin material with a diameter of 21 mm and a wall thickness of about 0.03-0.035 mm was passed over the folding mandrel and folded. As the rails passed over the mandrel, their inner wall was brought into contact with a fine spray of the water dispersion in an amount of 8 ml per strand. With this rate of application, about 1.21 mg / cm 2 of the water dispersion was applied to the inner wall of the skin. The pleated string of sausage skins contained 12 m of skin, and the inner walls of the skin contained about 0.009 to about 0.011

2 of sorbitan trioleate and about 0.002 to 0.0023 mg / cm of GMO. The moisture content of the skin was about 24%.

The skin was folded very evenly. The manufactured rails showed a good behavior when padding and linking, and a link break rate of 0.94% was observed when the rails were stopped and linked in a meat shop.

For comparison, the process of Example 4 was repeated with the difference that sorbitan trioleate and GMO were not dispersed in the water spray. The pleated leather was found to have a link breaking frequency of 2.20 L at padding and linking

Example 5. In a second sample, a pleated string of collagen skins was prepared by spraying a wetting fluid consisting of 1 sorbitan trioleate and 0.2% GMO in water over the inner wall of the skin by the process of Example 1. The sorbitan trioleate was present in a content of about 0.011 mg / cm skins, and GMO was present in an amount of about 0.002 mg / cm skins, and its moisture content was raised to about 24% by weight.

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For comparison, the process of Example 2 was repeated in a series of runs with the difference that in one run, only 1 & sorbitan trioleate was incorporated into the wetting fluid, in a second run 1 $ sorbitan trioleate, and 0.1 L of GMO was incorporated into the wetting fluid, and that in a third run the wetting fluid additives were 2.5 ° sorbitan trioleate and 1 carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC).

The linkage breaks in padding and linkage in a charcuterie of the collagen strands moistened in accordance with Example 2, as well as in the comparative runs were observed and noted. The link breaks of these strings are summarized in the following table.

<td>Test no</td><td>CHART Additives or additives to the wetting fluid</td><td>Link Crime island 0</td>

<td> 1</td><td>1 sorbitan trioleate + 0.2% GMO</td><td> 0,09</td>

<td> 2</td><td>1 l sorbitan trioleate + 0.1 in GMO</td><td> 6,00</td>

<td> 3</td><td>1 sorbitan trioleate</td><td> 2,30</td>

<td> 4</td><td>2.5 sorbitan trioleate + 1% CMC</td><td> 2,40</td>

It is immediately apparent from the table that collagen skins moistened in accordance with the present invention exhibit significantly less link failure during linking and padding (Sample # 1), especially when compared to collagen skins moistened with water dispersions containing ¹⁵ additives outside the scope of the present invention (Tests 2-4).

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