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The craft reaches further than the enamel pot.
When you talk about the casing technician trade, most people automatically think of casings for sausages. But the trade extends beyond that. According to ZBC/Slaughterhouse School's own description of the main program, both 'finishing of calf casings' and 'finishing of pork stomachs' are included as core subject areas—reflecting that several parts of the animal are used for casings and food products.
The small intestine is the most known raw material in the trade and becomes most types of sausage casing. In a pig the small intestine is several meters long, and it requires thorough cleaning and sorting before it can become a food-approved casing.
The pig stomach is treated as a separate part of the trade and is used, among other things, as a casing for certain larger sausage types where a more robust casing is necessary. Aftertreatment of the stomach places different demands than the small intestine because the material's structure and thickness are different.
| By-product | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Small intestine | Common types of sausage, caliber-divided |
| Pig stomach | Thicker, larger sausage types |
| Large intestine | Coarser sausage casings and specialty products |
The basic idea in the trade — that nothing from the animal should go to waste — applies just as much to pig stomachs and colons as to the small intestine. By finding uses for more parts of the animal, the use of raw materials increases and food production becomes more resource-efficient.
“The more parts of the animal you can process into usable products, the less goes to waste.”