Comminuted Meat Products

Comminuted meat products include sausages, frankfurters, bratwurst and others.  The principles for all these products are similar        

Sausages, are an example of comminuted meet products that are generally recognized as emulsified, stuffed, linked, smoked, and cooked meat products. The processing of sausages is a continuous sequence of steps, which are all equally important. The steps involved in the production of sausages include; grinding, mixing, chopping, emulsifying, stuffing, linking and typing, smoking and cooking, chilling, peeling and packaging. In the past, the casing of the sausages were made from animal casings, however this was a limiting factor for the production of sausages. Today, the casings are made of cellulosic and regenerated collagen. The limiting factor now, is the supply of meat. In the United States, franfurters and bologna make up 70% of the sausage prepared.

        The most ancient type of sausage produced is the semidry or dry sausage. These include both smoked (Pepperoni and Salami) or not smoked (Genoa and Milano). This involves grinding the meats and then mixing in salt, spices, curing salts (sodium or potassium nitrate) and in some instances sodium nitrite. This mixture is then held at refrigeration temperature, in order to develop a fermentation system. Today, the typical starter culture used in dry or semidry sausage is Pediococcus cervisiae. The mixture is then stuffed into casing and held at a temperature suitable for proper growth of acid producing organisms. The sausage is then smoked and dried for 20-90 days.

        The general procedure for sausage production begins with grinding the meat ingredients. Chunks of meat with variable size, shape and fat contents are uniformly ground into fat and lean cylinders. A uniform distribution of the fat and lean particles is achieved once these cylinders are tumbled into a mixer. The mixture of meat is then placed into a revolving bowl, where it is chopped by knife blades rotating on an axle cut. The grinding and chopping principles are combined through the emulsifying process. The emulsifier is used to produce the desired texture for a large volume of meat. The emulsified sausage is then transferred to the stuffer, where it is extruded into casings. The shape and size of product is now determined. There are three types of stuffers, which can be used: ( 1 ) piston, ( 2 ) pump, and ( 3 ) a combination of the piston and pump in a single unit. The stuffed casings are then tied with thread or fastened with metal clips, to produce links. The sausage emulsion is then coagulated, once it is placed into the smokehouse. The performance of the smokehouse is dependant upon eight important factors, which include: ( 1) dimension, ( 2 ) time cycle, ( 3 ) temperature range, ( 4 ) thermal requirements, ( 5 ) relative humidity, ( 6 ) air flow, ( 7 ) air flow pattern, and ( 8 ) smoke density. During the smoking process, these factors will determine the type of environment the sausage will be exposed to. After the completion of the smoking process, the sausage is showered with cold water and then chilled by refrigeration. The cellulosic casing is removed, once the product has reached an internal temperature of 1 to 4 degrees celcius.

Meat Emulsions:

In the preparation of sausage, the protein and water of the meat mixture form a matrix than encapsulates the fat portion.  In a meat emulsion the protein myosin acts as the primary emusifying agent.  The addition of salt to the product is to release the mysosin from the muscle fiber.  The emulsion is generally formed by mxing the meat with salt and other ingredients in a chopper, which aids in disrupting the fibers and facilliates the release of myosin. 

Sausage Ingredients:

Sausage ingreditnets include:

• Meat - based on consideration of  fat/protein; moisture/protein and myoglobin concnetration
• Moisture - added as ice at time of copping in a number of fresh and smoked sausages
• Curing ingredients - salt, sodiuim nitrite and/or nitrate and sugar
• Seasonings - may include spices, such as black peper, paprika, mace and cinamon; herbs that may include thyme and savory; vegetables such as garlic and onion and other substances, such as flavor enhancers
• Fillers and binders - occasionally used to improve color, binding properties, slicing characteristics, altering flavor or reducing costs
• Ascorbic acid - used to improve color in smoked sausages
• Other additives  - may include lilquid smoke,

Casings:

Casing may be natural or artifical.

• Natural casings are prepared from some part of the intestinal tract of cattle, sheep or hogs and are most commonly used in the preparation of fresh pork sausage, semi-dry and dry sausages.
• A relatively large percentage of franfurters use articial casings.   Historically  these were celulose casings.  More recently regenerated collagen has been used for casings.

Meat Equipment

For meat equipment, visit http://www.scanamcorp.com/simo/pumpmic.htm