Macro Engineering & Technology Inc., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and The Dow Chemical Company, Midland, Michigan, USA, have developed a new, Saran* Polyvinylidiene Chloride (PVDC)-based sausage casing technology that promises to bring more packaging options to sausage makers with less capital investment. The technology is being offered to sausage producers through Macro Engineering, which supplies a proprietary PVDC Casing Line. The line incorporates technical know-how on Saran sausage casing production from Dow, including the supply of Saran PVDC resins and color matching support.

This technology, which is being offered commercially for the first time, was unveiled at Macro Engineering's booth during the K-2001 Plastics show in Dusseldorf, Germany which ran from Oct. 25 - Nov. 1, 2001.

"The Macro-Dow solution for PVDC casing production offers the processor multiple advantages compared to other single or multi-layer casing systems," says Mirek Planeta, Macro's President. "In addition to including all the elements required for PVDC casing production in one package, our offering requires a smaller capital investment, reduced operational costs and has a shorter learning curve. If you add to that the superior oxygen and moisture barrier of PVDC, including its balanced shrink properties, you end up with a casing solution that is economically feasible in the highly competitive food market."

Jac Broeders, Saran Market Development Manager, says the technology gives processors a new way to tap into the outstanding barrier properties of Saran PVDC.

"This solution complements Dow's offering of Saran resins and films to end-users world-wide", says Broeders. "It will enable sausage producers to use Saran products on the whole range of sausage-filling and packaging equipment they currently operate. Best of all, they will benefit from the high barrier characteristics of Saran PVDC, which will give their food-products superior shelf-stability."

The standard line is capable of producing PVDC casings in calibers of 24 mm to 110 mm, which are equivalent to flat tubing of 38 mm to 172 mm wide. Typical gauges for PVDC casings are around 40 to 50. Capacity of the line is estimated at 150 metric tons per year.

The first PVDC casing line was installed and is operating in Dow's plant in Botlek, The Netherlands. A second line was recently sold to an undisclosed customer in Latin America for delivery in early 2002.