Sausage processing

SAUSAGE PRODUCTION

CHOPPING

Here the ingredients for every type of fresh sausage, continental product or other products are mixed in the required proportions.

Major raw materials common to most products;

• Lean pork
  
• Lean beef
  
• Back fat
  
• Semi lean
  
• Semi lean emulsion
  
• Rinds
  
• Off cuts
  
• Sausage Rusk
  
• Peatex
  
• Cornstarch
  
• Maize meal
  
• Soya gel
  
• Salt mix; constitutes ascorbic acid, sodium try polyphosphate, sodium nitrite sodium chloride, sodium metabisulphite and dextrose. It is used for fresh sausages.
  
• Curing salt; constitutes of ascorbic acid, sodium chloride, and dextrose. It is used for continentals.
  

Examples;

1. Meatloaf requires lean pork, lean beef, back fat, bacon pieces, semi lean salt mix and ice.
   
2. Beef sausage requires lean pork, lean beef, back fat, semi lean emulsion / semi lean, Rusk, Peatex, cornstarch, salt mix and ice.
   

Materials that require mincing are minced at different screen diameters depending on the product to be made.

Ingredients are weighed each at a time then put into a chopping machine, which chops and evenly mixes the ingredients.

The chopped sausage, continentals or other products mass is emptied into a meat van. Chopped masses are for products such as fresh sausages, continentals (for cooked products) hamburgers, burgers, frankfurters, and viennas among others.

STUFFING

Chopped mass from chopping area is fed into stuffing machines where every machine is particular to a certain type of product e.g. burgers, sausages or boerwors.

Mass for fresh sausages is packed into use collagen casings of different diameters e.g.23mm, 29mm or 28mm and hence the various types of fresh sausages. After stuffing sausages are packed in pouches to weigh either 500g, 400g 200g or 1kg.

A jet printer prints the respective day's production code on every pouch as they move on a conveyor belt.

They are passed through a metal detector and if okay they are delivered for sales or chilled /blast frozen awaiting sales.

Burgers and boerwors weigh either 500g or 1kg.