Meat + Poultry - August 2007 - 49

company also works with other equipment manufacturers, but Bruce Frankland, a Handtmann ConPro application specialist, and Seth Pulsfus, a
food scientist in ALKAR-RapidPak's
research and development group, say
the coextrusion-based partnership accentuates each company's engineering expertise
"Many of our customers are asking
for an intact, turnkey sausage manufacturing system that includes processing,
cooking, smoking, chilling, and packaging in a smooth, integrated operation,"
says Frankland. Handtmann's expertise
lies in the sausage/casing coextrusion,
the fixative bath, and a patented cutting
device that turns the continuous length
of sausage into uniform links. ALKAR
contributes the ability to use both natural
and liquid smoke and cook-in-bag technology, starting with the development
of product color through packaging to
final cooking in the pack. An added attraction is RapidPak flash pasteurization.
"That's what we call your 'sleep easy' -
another barrier for producing the safest
food product," Pulsfus comments.
The ConPro approach to casing is
a strong selling point, for reasons of
efficiency, consumer preference, and
economy. The system uses Ruitenberg
food-safe VegaCasing, a plant-based gel
of sodium alginate, coextruded onto
the surface of the sausage. The application of a fixative solution with a very
neutral pH immediately stabilizes the
casing, ensuring the product integrity
will be maintained.
The non-animal casing aligns well
with the burgeoning consumer push
for all-natural products. "I think there's
somewhat of a disconnect when an allturkey sausage is produced in a hog
casing," Frankland remarks. The VegaCasing, which can be used in kosher
and halal applications, earned high
marks for taste in consumer tests ALKAR conducted. Plus, the system allows for fine-tuning the level of casing,
unlike traditional or collagen casings,
where no adjustment is possible. "You
get a really clean bite with this casing," he notes.

Collaboration between Handtmann Inc. and ALKAR-RapidPak has produced a turnkey
sausage manufacturing system that integrates processing, cooking, smoking, chilling, and
packaging in a single operation. Photo courtesy of ALKAR-RapidPak

The cost savings over pre-formed collagen and natural casings is another significant benefit both suppliers promote.
The system is also "clean and green,"
Frankland says. "There is no dipotassium phosphate associated with this
process, and that eliminates the serious
problem of waste disposal."
Frankland and Pulsfus mention two
more significant areas of differentiation,

"Many of our customers
are asking for an
intact, turnkey sausage
manufacturing system."
suggesting that the ConPro marketing
strategy targets mid-size processors as
well as the industry's giant companies.
A compact footprint makes it possible
to fit the system into an existing plant,
keeping capital expenditures down.
"Handtmann developed this system with
the complexity of the competition in
mind," Frankland explains. "We wanted
to make coextrusion very simple and effective, with minimal moving parts and
low maintenance, offering processors
the advantage of operating at a constant
speed without batching, portioning, and
stopping and starting."

For all sizes of plants, equipment
flexibility is always a logistical factor.
Frankland points out ConPro system's
stuffer can do double-duty on conventional sausage-making lines. "We have
two stuffers which are adaptable to
anything else in the processing plant.
When the coextrusion system is not
operating, the stuffer can be used for
other products. Most people set it up
as a continuous process, but one U.S.
customer has opted to operate coextrusion 10 hours a day and then use
the stuffer for another application in
the second shift."
The demand among processors for
coextrusion technology is strong. "We
have 39 ConPro systems installed in
the world today, producing all types
of European-style sausage, from snack
sticks to fresh and cooked sausage,"
Frankland points out.

Casing advantages
Risco USA, South Easton, Mass., is still
another leading player in coextrusion
technology with its SSP RS 191 system
designed for sausage production. Developed by its Italian parent company, Risco Spa., the RS 191 is designed
to bring the benefits of a lower-cost,
continuously formed alginate casing
to the manufacture of pork, chicken,

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