Process
Casing and netting
The container the product dries in, and the geometry that follows from it.
Published parameters
| Parameter | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Drying room days by diameter | 14 days at 1 inch, 25 days at 4 inches, 50 days at 6 inches | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 3 |
| Flattened or oval sausages | use a diameter derived by measuring the circumference and dividing by pi | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 3 footnote 1 |
| Coverings under Method 5 | should not be coated with paraffin or like substance | FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Sausage Treatment Method 5 |
What the step is for
Sets the diameter, which sets the drying rate, which is why the Trichinella drying tables are indexed by casing size.
The casing is not packaging. It is the variable the drying schedules are indexed by, because the diameter determines how long water takes to leave the centre. Doubling the diameter from 3 inches to 6 inches more than doubles the required drying time, from 20 days to 50.
The instruction for oval sausages is a small piece of practical arithmetic worth keeping: measure the circumference and divide by pi, and use that as the diameter.
Hazards this step bears on
Arithmetic for this step
Instruments this step is measured with
Every parameter above is stated in a unit. These are the instruments those units are read with, and that is the only claim being made for them: they let you find out what your product is. None of them makes this step safe, none of them is required by any of the sources cited above, and this site does not tell anyone that a procedure works. Consumables, cures and cultures are deliberately not linked from a method page; they are on supplies.
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Sausage stuffer
Casing diameter at stuffing is the index of the Trichinella drying table. A stuffer that fills consistently is what makes the diameter a known quantity.
Parameter: FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 3, days by casing diameter
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Netting tool
Netting sets the shape, and the shape sets the shortest path from the centre to the surface. That distance is the thing a drying schedule is really about; casing diameter is only its proxy.
Parameter: FSIS-GD-2016-0002, Table 3, days by casing diameter
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Meat hooks
Air has to reach the whole surface. A piece resting against a shelf dries on one side and stays wet on the other, and the weight loss you measure is then an average of two different products.
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- HONSHEN
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- B0F9DYP53S
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Regulatory citations are to the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 9, as in force on 1 January 2026. FSIS guideline citations give the guideline identifier; the documents are listed with their URLs on methodology.