Protein-Based Adhesive Seam for Smoke-Permeable Food Casings
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing smoke-permeable tubular food casings with glued seams face issues such as non-uniform meat adhesion, lack of transparency, and impermeability to smoke, leading to color differences after smoking.
Innovation Solution
A smoke-permeable tubular food casing is developed using a protein-based adhesive, which includes crosslinked proteins like gelatin or collagen, combined with fillers and impregnated inserts, ensuring even smoke transfer and transparency, with the adhesive seam being practically invisible after filling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a hot-melt adhesive is used to seal the casing seam, then the seam is sealed and smoke-permeable, but the surface color of the sausage under the seam becomes lighter than outside the sealed area and the seam is not transparent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the chemical composition parameters of the adhesive from hot-melt adhesive to protein-based adhesive (collagen, gelatin, casein, or soy protein). This parameter change allows the adhesive to maintain smoke permeability while achieving transparency and uniform surface color, as the protein-based adhesive does not create the light-blocking effect of hot-melt adhesives.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite adhesive system combining protein-based adhesives with crosslinking agents and fillers. This composite material approach enables the adhesive to simultaneously achieve sealing reliability, transparency, and uniform appearance by leveraging the properties of each component working together.
2Illumination intensity
If a protein-based adhesive is used to seal the casing seam, then the seam is transparent and smoke-permeable, but the adhesion of the sausage meat in the seam area is not identical to the adhesion of the sausage meat around the circumference
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality enhancement by using impregnated inserts (such as collagen or gelatin impregnated inserts) specifically in the seam area. These inserts provide localized reinforcement and adhesion promotion exactly where needed, ensuring that the seam area achieves the same meat adhesion quality as the rest of the casing circumference while maintaining overall transparency.
3Strength
If the casing is made with improved mechanical strength through reinforcement, then the casing strength increases, but the smoke permeability and transparency may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs thin film inserts made of collagen or gelatin that provide mechanical reinforcement without significant bulk. These thin film structures maintain the transparency and smoke permeability of the casing while providing the necessary strength enhancement, as they do not create the opacity or smoke blockage associated with thicker reinforcement materials.
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 solution provides a casing with uniform smoke permeability and transparency, maintaining the same surface color across the circumference and seam area, enhancing mechanical strength and preventing mold growth, while allowing for even smoke transfer and aroma transfer.
Implementation Method 1
The overlapping longitudinal edges are coated with adhesive and bonded together
Implementation Method 2
crosslinked proteins like gelatin or collagen
Implementation Method 3
the adhesive seam is practically transparent, at least after the casing has been filled with a fatty food. Casings made with the aforementioned protein-based adhesives can be smoked in the usual way. They then exhibit a uniform smoke transfer to the surface across the entire circumference of the sausage
Implementation Method 4
The base material for the food coating is a film-forming material that can be of natural, semi-synthetic, or fully synthetic origin
Data Source
AI summary
Smoke-permeable food casing, comprises a longitudinal smoke-permeable adhesive joint, which is produced from an adhesive that in the dry state is composed of 10-100 wt.% of protein. An independent claim is included for a method for preparing the food casing comprising either reshaping a planar carrier material with a predetermined width to a tube shape, exposing optionally the tube to reinforcing air or holding with caliber backing rings in order to maintain its round form, gluing the carrier material with a protein-containing adhesive, providing the material with a continuous coating at the inside and/or the outside, or providing a planar carrier material at one or both the sides with the coating, optionally cutting the coated carrier material into webs of appropriate widths, shaping the coated carrier material or the webs in the form of a tube with overlapping longitudinal edges and overlapping the longitudinal edges strongly with one another by gluing.