Tubular casing for smokable foodstuffs, especially smokable sausages, process for its manufacture and use thereof

Claim 2

A tubular casing for foodstuffs, in particular sausages, comprising a sheet-like or web-like, rectangular cut piece of film or continuous web of film, which is curved around the longitudinal axis and the edge regions of which, running parallel to the longitudinal axis, are joined by a glued seam, the tubular casing being composed of cellulose or fiber-reinforced cellulose and, at least in the region of the glued seam, having a layer which contains a substantially water-insoluble cationic resin for joining the longitudinally running edges, wherein the tubular casing contains, in the region of the glued seam, a smoke-permeable adhesive layer of a water-insoluble condensation product, cured at room temperature, of a polyamide-polyamine, an aliphatic polyamine or a polyamide with bifunctional halohydrins or derivatives thereof, such as epichlorohydrin, as the sole adhesive.

Claim 3

The tubular casing as claimed in claim 1, which is preferably composed of fiber-reinforced cellulose and contains an adhesion-promoting smoke-permeable layer on its inside and/or outside.

Claim 4

The tubular casing as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein regions, close to the longitudinally running edges, of the cut piece or of the web are glued together with an overlap, the adhesive-containing layer being located between the mutually overlapping regions and the adhesion-promoting layer, if present, being disposed on the inside and/or outside of the tubular casing.

Claim 5

The tubular casing as claimed in claim 1 or 2, wherein the edges running parallel to the longitudinal axis abut and are joined by smoke-permeable film strips, which run parallel to the longitudinal axis and cover both regions close to edges, on the outside and/or inside of the tubular casing, the adhesive-containing layer being located between the film strip or strips and the regions close to the edges, and the adhesion-promoting layer, if present, being located in each case between the adhesive and the web and, if appropriate, the film strip.

Claim 6

The tubular casing as claimed in claim 3, wherein a smoke-permeable film strip, running parallel to the longitudinal axis, is located between the overlapping regions, adhesive-containing layers being located between the film strip and the overlapping regions of the cut piece or of the web.

Claim 7

The tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 2 to 5, wherein the adhesion-promoting smoke-permeable layer contains or is a cured cationic resin, in particular an urea/aldehyde, mela- mine/aldehyde or phenol/aldehyde resin or a condensation product of a polyamide-polyamine, aliphatic polyamine or polyamide with bifunctional halohydrins or derivatives thereof, such as epichlorohydrin.

Claim 8

The tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, which is shirred, the gluing region preferably being arranged helically around the longitudinal axis of the shirred tubular casing.

Claim 9

The tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, which, on its inside, has a coating which improves the ease of peeling.

Claim 10

A process for the manufacture of the tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8, a sheet-like or web-like cut piece made of cellulose or fiber-reinforced cellulose, or a continuous web made of cellulose, being curved around the longitudinal axis and being shaped into a tube, and the two edge regions, running parallel to the longitudinal axis, being glued to one another, with an overlap or in an abutting arrangement, whereby, in the abutting arrangement, glueing of the edges is effected to a smoke-permeable film strip overlapping both edge regions, said process comprising first applying, if appropriate, a smoke-permeable adhesion-promoting layer to the cut piece or the web, at least in the intended glueing region, then applying, before, during or after the formation of the tube, a preferably alkaline solution, which contains the still water-soluble condensation product of a polyamide-polyamine, aliphatic polyamine or polyamide with bifunctional halohydrins, to those surface areas of the cut piece or of the web and/or of the film strip which are to be glued, and curing the condensation product by storing the resulting tube at a temperature of up to 40°C and thus converting the condensation product into the insoluble form.

Claim 11

The process as claimed in claim 9, wherein the two overlapping edge regions of the tubular casing are glued with a smoke-permeable film strip which is arranged between them and which carries, on both sides, a layer containing the still water-soluble adhesive, this doublesided adhesive film strip being first glued, with its first surface, to one of the two axially running edge zones of the cut piece or of the web and then, forming the tubular shape, the second adhesive surface of the film strip being glued to the other axially running edge zone of the cut piece of the web.

Claim 12

The process as claimed in claim 9 or 10, wherein, in order to improve the permeability to smoke, the adhesion-promoting layer, at least as far as it is located on the longitudinally running edge zone or zones of the cut piece or of the web or on the film strip, is provided with passages in the form of orifices or pores, before the glued seam is formed.

Claim 13

The process as claimed in any of claims 9 to 11, wherein, in order to improve the permeability to smoke, the solution or dispersion containing the adhesion-promoting substance is applied with interruptions and/or blank areas at least to those surface areas of the cut piece or of the web and/or the surface or surfaces of the film strip which are to be glued.

Claim 14

The use of the tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 as a packaging wrap for foodstuffs to be smoked, in particular as an artificial sausage casing for sausages which are to be smoked.

Claim 15

The use of the tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7 as an artificial sausage casing for sausages, to be smoked, of the type of cooked sausages.

Claim 16

The use of the tubular casing as claimed in any of claims 1 to 8 for the production of small sausages with integral skin.