INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION 

Sausages are products in which fresh comminuted meats are modified by various processing methods to yield desirable organoleptic and keeping properties. Sausages are one of the oldest forms of meat processing and modern sausage technology has its roots deeply embedded in history. 

CLASSIFICATION OF SAUSAGES 

Sausages are usually defined as comminuted seasoned meats, stuffed into casings; they may be smoked, cured, fermented and heated. They are made from any edible part of the slaughtered, veterinary-inspected animal, and a series of nonmeat ingredients. Good sausages cannot be made from inferior or unsatisfactory raw material. A sausage formulation is always a compromise between the expected quality of the finished product, the cost of raw materials and the techniques applied. The production of a wide variety of sausages is possible through the manipulation of different variables such as meat formulation, processing temperature, types of casing and particle size. By altering certain processing treatments, changes occur within the product's texture and flavour, moisture content, porcentage of yield and other attributes. The number and variety of sausages are limited only by the manufacturer's imagination and knowledge. The meat or spice formula cannot be used for purposes of sausage classification because many sausage formulations include similar combinations of different meats and seasonings. Moreover, the proportions of the various meat types and spices used vary periodically due to seasonality in raw material supply. In spite of their multiple varieties, sausages may be roughly divided into two general groups: raw sausages and heat processed sausages. According to the methods applied in their manufacture, raw sausages may further be subdivided into two categories: fresh sausages and fermented sausages. Similarly, heat processed sausages are classified in smoked precooked sausages, emulsion-type sausages and cooked sausages.

 Fresh sausages are made from fresh meats which are, as a rule, neither cured, smoked, fermented nor cooked. Fresh sausages must be kept under refrigeration prior to eating. They are heated by the consumer himself before serving.

Fermented sausages are made from cur
ed or uncured, fermented and often smoked meats but they are not heat processed in any way; they are divided into semidry and dry sausages.

Smoked precooked sausagesare mostly cured, nonfermented products; their shelf life is increased by heating due to partial reduction of their moisture content; they are usually finally cooked before consumption.

Emulsion-type sausages comprise ready-to-eat products made from comminuted and well-homogenized cured meats, fatty tissue, water and seasonings, usually smoked and slightly cooked. In Europe, these sausages are known as “scalded” because they are only scalded (pasteurized) and not fully cooked. 

 

An important subgroup of larger diameter emulsion-type sausages includes products containing, in addition to previously cured meats, diced or cut into distinctive small pieces. Cooked sausages are ready-to-serve products, basically made from previously cooked fresh or exceptionally cured raw materials, subjected to final cooking after stuffing, with or without additional smoking. A subgroup of these sausages consists of cooked or baked specialities that are not stuffed into casings but moulded and, therefore, not always considered as sausages.