The invention relates to a
polymer-based casing for sausages which is designed to be used with uncooked meats such as chorizo. According to the invention, a
polymer resin is mixed with a
silicon-based barrier control agent, preferably a polyhedral oligomeric
silsesquioxane, in order to increase the permeability of the sausage casing. The resulting mixture can be stretched and oriented biaxially in order to produce a
polymer-based sausage casing comprising a single layer, which can be used with uncooked meat in the form of sausages, such as chorizo, and which is specifically designed to enable the gas and
moisture permeability which is necessary during the curing of uncooked meats in the form of sausages. The inventive polymer-based casing can also be used for cooked sausages by selecting a
silicon-based barrier control agent which increases the gas and
moisture barrier, thereby increasing the
shelf life of cased sausages. The invention also relates to a method of improving the casing detachment capacity for cooked sausages involving the injection of a thin
coating of a
release agent into the sausage casing during the gathering process, without the addition of a surface
active agent. The aforementioned
release agent is a hydroxypropyl methylcellulose solution which creates a low-
viscosity release agent which effectively improves the detachment capacity of any type of casing for sausages, but which is preferably used with the inventive polymer-based sausage casing.