TUBULAR ARTIFICIAL SAUSAGE PACKING MATERIAL AND ITS PRODUCTION

The artificial tubular sausage casing based on fibre-reinforced cellulose shows, in the fully water-impregnated state, a length increase of 0.8 to 2.5 % and a transverse shrinkage of 2.5 to 5.2 %, compared with the state before the water impregnation. Preferably, its change in calibre at the same pressure change in the range above 20 kPa in the state fully impregnated with water and with 22 to 27 % by weight of moisture content is approximately the same. In a special embodiment, the sausage casing can be filled with sausage meat without prior impregnation with water and, for this purpose, has a moisture content of 22 to 27 % by weight and a glycerol content of 17 to 20 % by weight, each relative to the total weight, and has a fungicide on its outside. The sausage casing is produced by the viscose process in which, during the final drying process, the tube consisting of cellulose hydrate gel shrinks by 2 to 10 % in the longitudinal direction and is greatly expanded in the transverse direction.