Pleated Tubular Casing Impregnation for Uniform Grill Marks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing artificial casings for stuffed meat products often result in inhomogeneous impregnation patterns, leading to defects like lines or marks on the surface, which are considered undesirable, and current methods for creating grill-type marks are complex and impractical.
Innovation Solution
A process involving the impregnation of pleated tubular casings with a colouring composition on specific sectors, such as longitudinal bands, to create repetitive or sequential marks that simulate grill marks on the surface of stuffed meat products, utilizing the casing's pleating structure to produce uniform and attractive patterns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If traditional printing or spraying methods are used to create marks on meat products, then the process is simpler, but the uniformity and attractiveness of grill-like patterns cannot be achieved
Solution Approach 1:
The casing is impregnated with colouring composition before stuffing the meat product. The pleated structure of the casing is utilized to create the marking pattern in advance, which then transfers to the meat product during processing. This preliminary action ensures uniform grill-like patterns without requiring complex marking equipment during production.
Solution Approach 2:
The marking pattern is created by copying the pleated structure of the casing onto the meat product surface. The colouring composition impregnated on the pleated casing acts as a template, transferring the folded pattern to the meat product during cooking or processing, achieving uniform grill-like marks through this natural copying mechanism.
2Area of stationary object
If impregnation is applied to the entire casing surface, then complete coverage is achieved, but inhomogeneous impregnation patterns and defects like lines or marks occur
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniform impregnation across the entire casing, the colouring composition is applied locally to specific sectors or zones of the pleated casing. This localized approach ensures that only certain areas transfer marks to the meat product, creating a controlled pattern rather than homogeneous coverage, thereby avoiding defects while maintaining aesthetic value.
3Illumination intensity
If the casing is peeled off before consumption, then the marks remain visible on the meat product, but the casing cannot be consumed with the product
Solution Approach 1:
The marking function is extracted from the casing material itself and transferred to the meat product surface through the colouring composition. The casing serves solely as a temporary carrier for the pattern, which is then deposited on the meat product. This allows the casing to be peeled off and discarded while leaving the desired visual marks on the consumable meat product.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The impregnation process effectively transfers the marks onto the meat product, providing a product with added value by creating uniform, grill-like patterns that are difficult to achieve through traditional printing or spraying methods, and can remain visible even after the casing is peeled off.
Implementation Method 1
the casing is impregnated with a colouring composition... the impregnation process effectively transfers the marks onto the meat product
Data Source
Figure 1A~1B
Figure 2A~2C
Figure 3A~3C
AI summary
The invention describes a process to produce a casing with marks and a meat product with marks. Said process starts from a casing by way of pleated tubular wrapping, where a colouring composition is impregnated on at least one sector of its surface to produce a casing with marks, which is optionally transferred to the stuffed meat product in said casing.