Food casing with a binder layer which comprises transferable additives

Abstract

The invention relates to a single- or multilayer, flat or tubular food casing incorporating a carrier based on a water-insoluble, thermoplastic polymer, a polymer of animal or vegetable origin or regenerated or precipitated cellulose, and a coating. The carrier is a textile material or a film or a combination thereof. The coating includes binder and particulate foods with a mean particle size of 60 μm or more, optionally also food additives such as food colorings and liquid smoke. It additionally relates to a process for producing the casing and to its use as an outer casing for fish, meat and sausage products.

Description

Claims

1. A single- or multilayer food casing comprising (i) a carrier based on at least one water-insoluble, thermoplastic polymer, on a polymer of animal or vegetable origin or on regenerated or precipitated cellulose, and (ii) a coating which comprises a binder and at least one additive which is transferable to the filling, wherein the additive consists of fine to coarse foods or mixtures having a mean particle size of at least 60 μm.

2. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein said casing is flat or tubular, and the water-insoluble, thermo-plastic polymer is a polyolefin, polyamide, polyester, polyvinylidene chloride or polyvinyl chloride.

3. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the carrier is a textile material, a film or a combination thereof.

4. The casing as claimed in claim 2, wherein the casing is tubular and the coating is disposed on the inside of the tube and the casing further has a longitudinal seam.

5. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the binder is a protein, a polysaccharide, or a mixture thereof.

6. The casing as claimed in claim 5, wherein the protein is a protein coagulable under the action of heat, or a fraction produced or isolated therefrom.

7. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the binder is one or more of a fat, wax, oil or another hydrophobic, water-insoluble substance which softens or becomes liquid under the action of heat up to about 90° C. thereby transferring the additive.

8. The casing as claimed in claim 1, said casing further comprising at least one outer coating.

9. The casing as claimed in claim 8, wherein the outer coating, after drying, has a weight of up to 150 g/m2.

10. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein the additive has a firm consistency and comprises fine-grain to coarse-grain or piece-form particulate aromas and/or flavorings.

11. The casing as claimed in claim 10, wherein the aromas and/or flavorings are spices, herbs, vegetables, mushrooms, fruits, cereals, nuts and/or cheese.

12. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein said casing further comprises at least one additional food additive.

13. The casing as claimed in claim 1, wherein an additional binder layer covers and fixes the additive.

14. The casing as claimed in claim 13, wherein the additional binder layer comprises a film-forming substance.

15. A process for producing a food casing as claimed in claim 1, which comprises the following steps: providing a tubular or web-form carrier material,coating the carrier-material with a binder,applying an additive,optionally coating the carrier-material with additional binder anddrying the coated carrier material.

16. The process as claimed in claim 15, wherein the additive is applied to coagulable protein which is then coagulated by the action of heat.

17. The process as claimed in claim 15, wherein a steam and/or oxygen barrier layer is applied to the side of the carrier material which is not provided with a binder.

18. The process as claimed in claim 15, wherein the carrier is provided in web-form said process further comprising (i) shaping the web-form into a tube with overlapping longitudinal edges, (ii) coating the binder and applying the additive on the inside of the tube, and (iii) fixing the overlapping edges with a seam.

19. The process as claimed in claim 15, wherein the carrier is tubular, said process further comprising coating the carrier on the outside, applying an additive, drying and, after drying, reversing the tubular casing, thereby resulting in an internally coated casing.

20. A method of transferring additives to foods comprising filling a food casing as claimed in claim 1 with food.

21. A process as claimed in claim 15, said process further comprising filling the dried carrier material with scalded-emulsion sausage, cooked-meat sausage, ham or cheese, and transferring the additives by heating the filled carrier material.

22. A process as claimed in claim 15, said process further comprising filling the dried carrier material with at least one of fish, meat, sausage products or cheese and transferring the additives below room temperature.

23. A process as claimed in claim 22, said process comprising filling the dried carrier material with raw-meat sausage or cooked ham.

24. The casing as claimed in claim 5, wherein the binder is casein or a protein hydrolyzate.

25. The casing as claimed in claim 5, wherein the binder is an ether or ester of cellulose.

26. The casing as claimed in claim 24, wherein the binder is methylcellulose.

27. The casing as claimed in claim 6, wherein the protein is whey protein, egg white protein or blood plasma.

28. The casing as claimed in claim 7, wherein the binder is tallow, drying oil, nondrying oil, semidrying oil, fatty acid, fatty acid ester, fatty alcohol or mixture thereof.

29. The casing as claimed in claim 8, wherein said outer coating comprises polyvinylidene chloride resin.

30. The casing as claimed in claim 9, wherein the outer coating has a weight ranging from 30 to 120 g/m2.

31. The casing as claimed in claim 12, wherein the food additive is a colorant or liquid smoke.

32. The casing as claimed in claim 14, wherein the film-forming substance comprises the film-forming protein.

33. The casing as claimed in claim 14, wherein the film-forming substance comprises collagen fibers.

34. The casing as claimed in claim 19, wherein the tubular carrier is seamless.