Sausage Processing

 

 

Plant and equipment layout to ensure optimum sausage manufacturing

 

 

While sausage plant layouts differ according to the miscellany and volume of products, certain norms must always be adhered to. The most important of these are apposite process sequence and room temperature.

A proper sequence of procedures and a judicious choice of equipment will circumvent bottlenecks that will hamper production flow.

 

From a production and hygiene perspective, the main consideration in the design and layout of a sausage production plant is effecting maximum raw material handling speed using the shortest possible distances between operations.

 

Wherever space permits, product movement should follow a straight line, without any risk of contamination – from the receipt of raw material and its storage through to storage and distribution of the finished product. Corridors for traffic should be limited.

Importance must be given to each piece of equipment regarding its designated area and operating climate, as well as its size. Too large a machine is an unnecessary expense and impedes on space, but a machine that is too small to efficiently perform the tasks at hand is also not viable.

The sequence of areas in a sausage processing plant is as follows: receiving and chilling; non-meat ingredient storage; cutting, deboning and trimming; chopping and mixing; smoking and cooking; cold room storage; and packaging and dispatch.

Receiving and chilling

Receipt, inspection, weighing and storage of fresh meat and non-meat ingredients must be carried out in a room situated close to the main processing room and kept at between 8°C and 12°C.

The area around the entrance door must be paved and allow for proper drainage, and provision must be made for an offloading ramp. There should be a direct and passable entrance from the receiving area to the chill room and main processing room, so as to allow the least amount of time and effort, and no interference of operations and contact of meat with other raw materials.

Non-meat ingredients

This separate room needs to be dry and cool, protected from pests and humidity, and fitted out with scales, tables for preparation of spices and casings, and shelves for storage of boxes and containers.

Cutting, deboning and trimming

There should be sufficient room for free movement and safe use of knives, cleavers and other tools, and placement of cutting and trimming tables. In this room, a temperature of between 8°C and 12°C °C must be maintained. The humidity should give a dew point close to that of the surface temperature of the product.

 

Meat chopping, mixing and stuffing

Adjacent to the cutting and trimming area, the chopping, mixing and stuffing room includes the space in which meat is processed, mixed with other ingredients and stuffed into casings.

It is extremely important that all processing equipment – frozen meat cutting machines, grinders, cutters, emulsifying mills, mixers, stuffers and linkers – are designed for easy cleaning and positioned to permit easy operator access.

Smoking and cooking

The smoking and cooking section should be isolated from other areas and must have adequate ventilation.

For processors of emulsified sausages only, a smoking cabinet would obviously be unnecessary. These processors need to decide whether they will utilise cooking baths, vats into which live steam is injected, or cooking in an oven.

Cold rooms

Set at a temperature of 0°C to 4°C, cold chambers for the hanging and storage of unpackaged final products such as whole hams and salami directly face either the receiving or packaging room.

A vacuum tumbler is best kept inside a cold room below -1°C, as low temperatures are most conducive to extract the optimum amount of soluble protein from the muscle meat. Temperatures below -10°C prevent microbial growth during prolonged tumbling times (more than four hours or overnight).

Freezing tunnels or rooms at temperatures ranging from -30° to -45°C are utilised for the freezing of products and frozen storage.

Packaging and dispatch

The temperature in holding and dispatch rooms is 2°C to 4°C at a dew point of 5° to 7°C.

The size of this section is determined by the number and assembly of finished products and their method of transport. Special attention must be given to adequate storage space for products awaiting remote shipping.

 




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