Meat + Poultry - April 2005 - 35

Tools

sharp, which is apparent by visual inspection. The plate's individual holes
should also have sharp edges, but this
is less obvious.
Blending and stuffing
Once the meat has been ground, it
is necessary to mix it to make sure
the sausage is uniform and the seasoning is blended in completely. It
is important that a blender/mixer be
dual action, which is accomplished
by a twin-ribbon mixer with opposite-turning ribbons or paddles that
completely mixes the meat. A singleribbon blender will accomplish the
same dual action by having an inside
paddle that moves the meat in the opposite direction, completing the mix.
The most critical pitfall to avoid when
mixing fresh sausage is not to over
mix the meat blend, which is more a
function of the machine operator than
the equipment itself.
The next piece of equipment necessary for fresh sausage preparation is
the stuffer. There are three basic styles
of stuffers: the piston stuffer, the vane
stuffer and the worm stuffer. In general, the stuffers will work (mixing the

meat mixture) to different degrees.
The piston stuffer is considered
to be the most gentle. The piston is
forced through the cylinder containing the meat mixture. The relief point
is the stuffing horn. The only mixing
that continues at this point occurs
when the meat enters the stuffing
horn. Fresh sausage quality is judged
on particle definition - individual
meat and fat pieces which appear as
distinct pieces.
The vane stuffer is considered to
be the next most gentle. This stuffer
mimics the piston action by using a
series of vanes which, when viewed
form above, look like pieces of a pie.
Using cam action, the vanes compress
as they rotate around the axis of the
cavity forcing the meat mixture into
the stuffing horn. After forcing out
the mixture the cam allows the van
to open and accept more mix mixture. This continues for the stuffing
operation. The worm stuffer uses two
counter-rotating worms, which gather
the meat mixture into the worm cavity and moves the meat mixture into
the stuffing horn. By using the proper
worm set up, the worm stuffer will

A meat emulsion is unloaded from a bowl chopper and transported to a sausage stuffer.
(Source: Iowa State University)
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provide good particle definition.
The split horn can help ensure the
appearance of stuffed fresh sausage
is superior. By splitting the horn end,
the meat mixture rolls out of the end
of the horn. This enables the particles
that have not been smeared along the
sides of the stuffing tube to be in contact with the casing, which improves
the appearance of the sausage.
Emulsion focus
Emulsified products such as wieners and bologna require additional
equipment than fresh sausage production. Manufacturing of these products
utilizes the grinder, mixer and stuffer.
In addition, these products require
an emulsifier or a chopper (bowl
cutter).The emulsifier is designed
to accomplish one mission, which
is to reduce the particle size of the
meat. This accomplishes two needs.
First, the fat particles are reduced to
a uniform size that can be encased
in the protein moisture matrix. Upon
heat processing this forms the stable
product we know as a wiener. If done
incorrectly, the emulsion is unstable
and results in an inferior product.
This particle reduction is preformed
by one of two methods. The first
method is a high-speed grinder. The
hole size in the plate is very small, 1.3
mm to about 5 mm. The 1.3 mm size
allows the fat particle to be encased in
the protein moisture matrix. Smallersize fat particles generally have too
much surface area to be successfully
encased. Larger fat particles can be
encased although the fat piece may be
visible in the end product.
Because the emulsifier is highspeed equipment, care must be taken
to assure that the processing is successfully accomplished. It must be set
up properly. The meat must be fed into
the machine at a full and continuous
rate. As with the grinder, the plates
and knives must be matched and
sharp. Poorly operated emulsifiers will
generate enough heat to set or cook
the protein so the protein moisture
matrix will not encase the fat particle.
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