Do You Have to Refrigerate Sausage Casings
When you’re manufacturing sausages at a large scale, questions can arise at every stage of production. Let’s say you’ve selected the ideal casings for your signature sausage, properly prepared them, and stuffed and sealed your latest batch. But what about your leftover casings?
More specifically: Do you have to refrigerate sausage casings?
The simple answer is: It depends. Whether or not sausage casings require refrigeration comes down to what type of casing you’re working with.
In this guide, we’ll discuss how to store natural and artificial casings, why temperature matters, and practical pointers to help you get the most out of every inch of casing.
Types of Sausage Casings & Their Storage Needs
Sausage casings fall into two main categories: natural and artificial (also known as synthetic). Not only do their individual benefits and applications vary, but so do their handling and storage requirements.
A Review of Sausage Casings: Natural vs. Artificial
While natural animal casings have been used to preserve sausage for over a millennium, artificial casings have only been around since the 20th century when the demand surpassed supply in industrial-scale sausage production. However, both types of sausage casings remain popular for packing sausages around the world.
Before digging into their different care requirements, let’s compare these two classes of casings:,
- Natural casings — This family of sausage casings features a wide variety of products, as they’re manufactured from the digestive tracts of beef (bovine), hog (porcine), and sheep (ovine). The collagen-rich submucosa tissue within the casings provides them with a natural elasticity, strength, and snap that keeps customers coming back (despite the higher price point).
- Artificial casings — Collagen and fibrous casings are just a couple of varieties under the umbrella of artificial casings. They’re produced from a mix of organic and synthetic materials, imitating the taste of natural casings while performing better with industrial sausage stuffing equipment. When sausage producers purchase artificial casings, they can expect uniformity, pressure resistance, and lower labor costs.
Though natural casings are more delicate than artificial casings, neither is indestructible—they both require special attention in handling and storage.
Do All Types of Sausage Casing Require Refrigeration?
Before storing all your casings in the same place, note that not all sausage casings require refrigeration:
- Natural casings — These should be kept in a cooler at 40°F (4.4°C) or below once they arrive, stored either in brine or heavily salted. However, they do not require refrigeration during shipping and are shelf stable in transit due to the curing and salting process.
- Artificial casings — Whether collagen or fibrous, artificial casings only require a temperature-controlled pantry.
In fact, you should avoid refrigerating artificial casings altogether since any added moisture can compromise their structural integrity.
How to Properly Store Sausage Casings
We’ve established that natural casings require refrigeration while artificial casings don’t, but how do you ensure a maximum shelf life for both?
Refrigeration Guidelines for Natural Casings
For natural casings, the following factors play an important role in preventing spoilage, extending shelf life, and maintaining elasticity:,,
- Storage receptacle — Keep out unwanted bacteria and prevent moisture loss by using an airtight container or sealable bag to store your casings.
- Temperature — Ensure that your industrial fridge maintains a temperature of 40°F (4.4°C) or below.
- Dry salt or brine — Coat or place your stored casings in dry salt or brine. Dry salt is most effective at limiting water activity and fending off microbial growth and fat rancidity. Meanwhile, salt brine is better equipped for long-term hydration.
Regardless of what container or preservation method you select for storing your sausage casings, keeping them tucked away in your industrial fridge will do wonders for their longevity.
How to Prevent Spoilage or Drying Out Long-Term
The last thing you want is to take your natural casings out of storage to discover that they’ve gone bad or dried out. That’s why we recommend performing this routine check-up on your casings every couple of months:
- Remove the casings from their container
- Rinse thoroughly to flush the casings of salt
- Clean or replace the storage container
- Apply fresh dry salt coating or brine
- Return your casings to the industrial fridge, recording the date on the container
When stored properly, natural casings can maintain their sought-after taste, texture, and structure for up to a year.
Best Practices for Storing Artificial Casings
For starters, artificial sausage casings are much less susceptible to bacterial contamination and spoilage. However, they still require a little extra care to maintain their high quality.
As a general rule of thumb, store artificial casings in a cool, dry location away from direct heat and sunlight. Since collagen casings are made from food-grade collagen materials, they are sensitive to humidity and should be stored in a stable, dry environment. Ensure that your storage environment maintains low and stable moisture levels to avoid damage and bacterial growth.
When protected from moisture and heat, artificial casings can even outlast natural casings by several years.
Common Mistakes & How to Avoid Them
Generally speaking, sausage casings are durable and versatile products. But as we’ve seen, they still require particular treatment when it comes to storage and handling. Failing to account for the following factors can knock months off their shelf life:
- Temperature fluctuations – Your casings are more likely to sustain their structural integrity and quality if you store them in an environment with stable temperature and moisture levels.
- Over-soaking – Soaking casings for longer than necessary before storage will compromise their elasticity and strength, even before you seal them up. Refer to our guide on how long to soak sausage casings to ensure optimal quality.
- Improper sealing – A correctly sealed bag or container protects your casings from exposure to bacteria and excess moisture.
When in doubt, be overly cautious in storing and handling your casings. The better you care for your casings, the better your next batch of sausages will turn out.
Long-Term Storage: Can You Freeze Casings?
It’s best to avoid freezing your sausage casings, especially natural sausage casings. This will prevent your casings from losing their flexibility, strength, and shape.
How Freezing Affects Casing Integrity
Freezing should only ever be a last resort. That’s because it causes casings to become brittle and prone to breakage.
If you must freeze your sausage casings, take the following precautions:
- Apply a generous coating of dry salt or salt brine to natural casings
- Seal them tightly in an airtight freezer bag
- Monitor them more frequently than normal
While artificial casings may be more structurally resilient, freezing is not recommended and should only be used as a last resort in emergency situations
Thawing Best Practices
If you were forced to freeze your natural or artificial casings, we recommend thawing them out slowly. First, transfer them from the freezer to the industrial fridge, and later, to a room temperature setting. Speeding up this process can lead to a loss of moisture and pliability.
Steer clear of thawing casings in warm water or microwaves. Rapid temperature changes lead to dramatic moisture loss and, ultimately, weak casings.
Oversea Casing’s Ordering & Storage Recommendations
Setting your sausage casings up for success begins even before you place your order. Consider the following tips for how to ensure optimal sausage casings:
- Order intentionally – Make sure to match your order to your production schedule to avoid excess stock, spoilage, and waste. To streamline reordering and prevent shortages, Oversea Casing offers a convenient subscription program with 5% off plus free shipping—ideal for maintaining steady inventory without overstocking.
- Quickly transfer or keep in sealed packaging – If your casings arrive in an airtight container with dry salt or brine, you have nothing to worry about. If not, find an airtight container or sealable bag to store them as soon as possible.
- Label with date and product name – This simple step can save you time and headaches down the line when searching for the casings you need. We recommend setting aside a section of your industrial fridge (or using a separate fridge/space altogether) specifically for casing storage. Arrange casings by type and date, utilizing the oldest casings first.
Ensure Casings You and Your Customers Can Count On with Oversea Casing
In a large-scale sausage operation, there are countless considerations that go into producing a delicious final product. It’s easy to overthink the process and ask questions like, Do you have to refrigerate sausage casings?
Fortunately, Oversea Casing is always here to ensure your operations run smoothly and efficiently.
At Oversea Casing, we’re dedicated to providing butcher shops, meat lockers, large-scale sausage producers, and regional sausage manufacturers with expert advice and premium natural and artificial sausage casings. As an industry-leading supplier, we have nearly 100 years of experience supporting businesses at every step in sausage production. Plus, we offer low order minimums, free shipping on subscriptions, 24/7 online ordering, and a product sizing tool to ensure you receive the right type and amount of casings you need, exactly when you need them.
For a wide selection of premium-quality natural and artificial casings you can count on, choose Oversea Casing.
Sources:
European Natural Sausage Casings Association. COMMUNITY GUIDE to GOOD PRACTICE for Hygiene and the application of the HACCP principles in the production of natural sausage casings. https://food.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2017-09/biosafety_fh_guidance_guide_good-practice-haccp-ensca.pdf
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. Meat Processing Technology for Small - to Medium - Scale Producers. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/4cfabbd3-16aa-47f8-ac6f-b54a48cb8abd/content
International Food & Safety & Quality Network. Shelf life: Indefinite? https://www.ifsqn.com/forum/index.php/topic/29672-shelf-life-indefinite/#:~:text=Collagen%20Casings%20can%20be%20stored,to%203%20years%20or%20longer.
Meat Science. Casing Technologies for Processed Meat Products.
North Dakota State University. The Art and Practice of Sausage Making. https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/extension/publications/art-and-practice-sausage-making#:~:text=on%20the%20packages.-,Grinding%20and%20mixing,and%20mix%20thoroughly%20by%20hand.
Science Direct. Collagen use for co-extruded sausage casings – A review. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224420305124
Science Direct. Effect of initial mild curing, with additives, of hog and sheep sausage casings on their microbial quality and mechanical properties after storage at different temperatures. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0309174098001181?via%3Dihub
Science Direct. Sausage Casing. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/sausage-casing
UGA Extension. Basics of Sausage Making: Formulation, Processing & Safety. https://bpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/blogs.cornell.edu/dist/b/2712/files/2021/06/Basics-of-Sausage-Making.pdf
