LPT 312: Abattoir Practices and Animal Products Technology (1+1)

NATURAL CASINGS

• Prior to the development of manufactured casings, only natural casings were available to meat processors.
• They are derived almost exclusively from the gastro-intestinal tracts of swine, cattle, sheep and goats.
• The bladder is also used for products such as mortadella.
• It is of historical interest that skins from the neck of chicken are of the first casings used for sausage.
• The small intestine, stomach, bladder, caecum and oesophagus are cleaned off their contents, mucous linings and external fat, after which they are preserved using dry salt.
• The casings are prepared from the sub mucous layer of the small intestines of cattle, sheep, pigs or horses.
• The other three coats of intestines are removed.
• Casings are grouped and sorted on the basis of length, diameter and quality (holes, workmanship, and strength).
• Natural casings have the advantages of being edible, allowing greater smoke penetrations and conforming to the size of the sausage during cooking and drying.
• Some processed meat products have unique or characteristic shapes because of the casings in which they are placed.