Physical crosslinkings of edible collagen casing

Although edible collagen casing has been commercially used in meat industry, the safety and effectiveness of collagen cross-linking with minimally invasive treatments are still big concerns for manufacturers. In this study, ultraviolet irradiation (UV) and dehydrothermal treatment (DHT) were used to improve the properties of casing. UV, DHT, and their combination (UV+DHT) significantly increased tensile strength and decreased elongation at break of casing, in which DHT showed the best performance. Swelling of casing was also partially inhibited by the treatments. Furthermore, UV and DHT slightly improved thermal stability of the casings. In addition, X-ray diffraction patterns showed the treatments caused different extents of denaturation of collagen. No obvious effects in thickness and light transparency except for surface roughness were observed in the treated casings. The physical treatments could potentially be used as safe and effective alternatives to chemical cross-linking for the production of collage casing.