Meat Sausage, beef sausage and frankfurters are among the three most outstanding products in the wide range available from meat processing company Karl Eidmann GmbH & Co. KG. Based in Bruchköbel in the state of Hesse, Germany, this privately owned and operated meat business, so rich in tradition, is primarily set on using natural casings. But while this is so, beef sausage is now being stuffed into edible colored collagen casings from Naturin. In this ’Die Fleischerei’ field test, Eidmann’s production manager Dietmar Deckmann shares his practical experiences with our magazine’s readers.
Colored collagen casings
E Founded in 1914 by Karl Eidmann senior, the same-name company today is once again managed by Karl Eidmann, the original founder’s grandson, that is. On 10,000 square meters of production area, some 100 people are employed by Karl Eidmann GmbH & Co. KG (the company’s official name) with 45 of them on the actual workfloor. The major part of the plant’s overall output is distributed to retail and wholesale customers; but via an outlet near the company’s home base in Bruchköbel (in the greater Frankfurt area), the complete Eidmann meat products range is also offered to end-users living in the area. And it is in this retail store where shoppers can also go to a hot counter and, while enjoying it, book Eidmann’s home delivery party service at the same time, too.
With some 400 different products in the overall assortment, beef sausages do hold an important position in the total range offered. And with its NDC-type edible, colored collagen sausage skins, casings manufacturer Naturin was there to substantially contribute to making the production of this specific type of sausages that much more efficient, while still meeting the high level of quality requirements Eidmann routinely imposes on his company’s own products. Naturin has, in fact, conceived its ND-type casings specifically for both smoked and non-smoked cooked sausages, offering them in a nominal caliber range from 13 to 34 mm, with even more calibers available upon special request, as the casings manufacturer points out. Apart from naturally colored sausage skins, ND-type casings are also available in the colors caramel, non-smoker, yellow, salmon red, deep red, red-11 and red-22. Eidmann’s production manager, master butcher and food processing technologist Dietmar Deckmann, also had his share in deciding on Naturin collagen casings. “A distinct feature of these skinning products is a trueness to caliber unattainable by natural casings”, Deckmann points out, adding that the clear-cut, predetermined form, devoid of any changes in size, is a case in point which, from a purely technological point of view, makes the artificial casing clearly preferable to its natural counterpart in any case.
As far as efficient production is concerned, that fact was clearly evident when visiting the plant. One worker simply pulls the gathered casings over the filler tube spout – no watering beforehand necessary. Next, that same person starts the stuffing machine, and the interconnected hanging unit is rapidly filled with completely stuffed beef sausages, ready to go to the smokehouse or smoking chamber. No differences in size or caliber variations can be spotted – at least not with the bare eye. “And otherwise neither”, adds Dietmar Deckmann with conviction. While such variations can technically not be avoided with natural casings, the ND-type collagen casings provide for trueness to preset weight, form and size specifications to a very high degree of precision.
No doubt, any type of work tends to look simple when it’s being carried out by experienced workers with lots of on-the-job routine at hand. But while this is so, getting accustomed to working with these collagen casings has been a fast and easy, unproblematic experience to his people, as Deckmann asserts. To quote Eidmann’s production manager: “It only stands to reason that, as is everywhere the case, familiarizing people with a specific job is always also dependent upon the respective staffers’ job-specific competency. But someone basically familiar with the work to be performed on a sausage stuffer is not about to encounter any problems with collagen casings”, adding that a change in personnel operating the stuffing machine would give rise to some necessary explanation now and then, but the customary throughput performance would still be back in place soon.
Wide range in calibers
As already stated, the product range Eidmann puts out is varied and wide. Which means that a wide caliber spectrum meets the company’s needs head on. “We’re using edible collagen casings in calibers 21, 23, 28, 32 and 34”, explains Deckmann right off hand. He is also very satisfied with the wide range of applications these casings offer, and equally so with their behavior in the smokehouse or chamber, an attribute which, in his terms, is excellent. In an overall context, those at Eidmann are highly satisfied with the way these casings can be processed. Says the company’s owner/manager: “Of course, bursts in collagen casings do occur, too – but when compared to natural casings, such occurrences only happen once in the long while.”
Also resulting from that practical experience is a top-grade price:benefit evaluation. Elaborates Deckmann: “When compared to natural sausage casings, the price per collagen casing each may at first appear a little higher, but when including the rapid processing mode, as afforded by the collagen sausage skins, into the overall equation, the total cost turns out to be less. It goes without saying of course that, for such a high throughput to materialize, an automatic hanging system is part of our operational setup as well.”
Unbureaucratic service
But the collagen casing’s quality and practicability aren’t Deckmann’s only reasons for using Naturin products: “The company’s (i.e. Naturin’s) customer service is excellent. All requests and inquiries are dealt with fast and without any bureaucratic fuss; a matter of fact which, for us, is a highly important factor in order for our production to be so flexible that we, in turn, can readily react to all our customers’ needs and requirements.”
That flexibility notion already starts on the supply side. Explains Deckmann: “Under normal conditions, we always have some of our vehicles on the road in the Weinheim area, and when collagen casings are needed in our plant, we simply have our vehicles pick up our order directly at Naturin.” (The casings manufacturer has its home base in Weinheim, about 100 km south of where Eidmann is located – Ed.) If, by exception, that shouldn’t be possible, Naturin of course wastes no time in making fast delivery by way of a parcel post courier service. At which point Eidmann’s production manager has this to say: “But if it is necessary and particularly pressing, Naturin’s field service people will also come by our plant to make personal delivery.”
An extra service which, for Naturin, apparently does not imply any technical lead time to be performed, as Deckmann himself has already experienced: “In case we’re in for a big product shipment and place our casings order around noon, it is ready to be delivered, or to be picked up, the next morning. So we are highly satisfied with the service we get.”
In Deckmann’s estimation, Naturin’s readiness to make delivery fast, as coupled with the flexibility of either performing rapid delivery, or in having the product ready for pick-up, checks in as decisive service criterion. “That reliability turns into a big plus for Naturin”, he underscores.
As would be expected, Deckmann also fully backs his decision to use colored edible collagen casings in the beef sausage production line. For Eidmann’s production manager, flawless quality, maximum caliber fidelity and high product throughput, made practically possible as a result, plus Naturin’s flexibility coupled with rapid, unbureaucratic service, together check in as the most decisive criteria in his overall evaluation.
Dirk Bongardt