Development of a novel sausage casing

The objective of this study was to develop a novel chitosan-based casing that is well-suited for commercial application. In order to do so, chitosan was mixed with cinnamaldehyde, glycerol, and Tween 80 in various ratios, and the resulting films were compared to commercial collagen casings for physical (water solubility, moisture content, thickness, transparency, and UV barrier) and mechanical (tensile strength, elongation at break, and tensile energy to break) properties. The chitosan films exhibited different properties due to the interactions between chitosan, glycerol, and cinnamaldehyde as identified by FTIR spectrophotometry. Among the different chitosan films, the film containing 50% glycerol, 2.2% cinnamaldehyde, and 0.2% Tween 80 showed the same mechanical properties as the collagen casing, with lower water solubility, superior transparency, and better UV light barrier. This manuscript provides an alternative packaging material to collagen to be used as a sausage casing for the meat industry.