Meat + Poultry - August 2007 - 50

COEXTRUSION

Coextrusion's use of plant-based casing addresses the burgeoning consumer push for clean
labels and all-natural products. (Photo courtesy of ALKAR-RapidPak)

turkey, beef, and vegetarian sausages. An optional denester with automatic tray loading facilitates depositing fresh links directly into trays for
retail packaging.
The key to continuous operation is the
vegetable coating from Crown National
(Pty) Ltd., says Paul Kean, vice president
of sales at Risco USA Corp. "The system
applies an alginate to the product after
it has been pumped through the Risco
vacuum stuffer, a machine originally built
for fresh Italian sausage to optimize the
look of the customer's product," Kean
notes, emphasizing that the system requires only one stuffer/filler, "resulting in
less cost and less overall system maintenance." The coextruded product is cured
in a brine solution so it can be handled
immediately. An integrated cutting system then portions it to customer specifications before the sausage is conveyed
to the next process.
The combined technologies give processors the ability to adjust the coating
for thickness, consistency, strength, and
appearance to "extraordinary" weight
and length control. The system does
not require processors to re-formulate
recipes Original recipes need not be
modified, and in most configurations
the system footprint is between 15 and
20 feet long.
Like its competitors, Risco sees the
56

MEAT&POULTRY

August 2007

vegetable casing as a direct path to consumers interested in natural products.
"This is a product the marketplace is
calling for," Kean observes, adding that
the approach is especially good for
skinless breakfast links.
The advantages for processors extend beyond taste into the heart of the
business. When compared to traditional

"The person who buys a natural
casing hot dog is probably not
the same one who buys the
10-pound package at the
supermarket."
collagen or natural casings, alginate casings offers a significant cost savings that
Kean estimates to be from 30 percent
to 70 percent, depending on the material. Along with the ability to control
the thickness of the vegetable coating,
the system capitalizes on "100 percent
of the operational minute" to deliver
consistent product with extremely high
particle definition.

Down the line
Sausage expert Bob Rust, a professor emeritus at Iowa State Univ., who
now runs his own consulting service
in Ames, Iowa, confirms the econom-

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ic benefits of coextrusion. "It's been a
boon for the consumer in developing
a competitively priced product," he
notes. The advent of advanced sensing and weighing equipment and new
casing technology, along with increasing numbers of dedicated, high-volume
production lines and the trend among
processors to limit the need for product
handling, are the primary forces driving
the need for continuous processing.
Rust acknowledges there are tradeoffs; coextrusion is unlikely to yield
the same artisanal result as sausage
produced by the batch. But then again,
"The person who buys a natural casing
hot dog is probably not the same one
who buys the 10-pound hot dog package at the supermarket," he says. It's all
a question of targeting markets. Coextrusion is the way to satisfy the mass
of cost-conscious consumers, and it's a
solution addressing the need for "very
uniform portions" in the high-quality
foodservice environment.
As for floor space, Rust points out
that some of original coex systems were
huge due to the need for dwell time in
thermal processing, but new configurations have been developed to reduce
footprints.
One part of production that has
yet to be brought into the coex fold is
the initial blending and emulsification.
Combining the meat and non-meat ingredients and taking the mix through
the various particle reduction stages are
still done on a batch basis. "We don't
quite have a system that transforms
raw material at one end into a finished
package at the other," Rust comments.
For many processors, that's still the ultimate goal.
Given the progress made to date, that
might not be an unimaginable concept.
"The idea of a continuous system has
been around for a substantial time period, but I'm sure we're going to have
continuing development in materials,
cooking equipment, and packaging,"
he concludes.
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Meat + Poultry - August 2007

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