Sausage as a value-added product A concept for micro-food processing sector/entrepreneurship in Manipur

Dr Angam Raleng, Dr Ng Joykumar, Dr Wanglar Chimwar, Saroj Kumar Behera
Introduction
Sausage is a food item which is stuffed with well-seasoned minced meat usually in a casing of prepared animal intestine or artificial sausage casing usually made from cellulose, collagen, and plastic and may always not be edible. Sausages are the best source of protein which is the power source of amino acids, healthy benefitting minerals, and the essential vitamins which is required for proper body functioning. Sausages are classified into fresh sausage, fermented sausage, smoked sausage, emulsion-type sausage, and cooked sausage. Fresh sausages are made from fresh meats which are, as a rule, neither cured, smoked, fermented nor cooked. Fresh sausages must be kept under refrigeration prior to eating. They are heated by the consumer himself before serving. Fermented sausages are made from cured or uncured, fermented and often smoked meats but they are not heat processed, they are divided into semi-dry and dry sausages. Smoked precooked sausages are mostly cured, non-fermented products; their shelf life is increased by heating due to partial reduction of their moisture content; they are usually finally cooked before con- sumption. Emulsion-type sausages comprise ready-to-eat products made from comminuted and well- homogenized cured meats, fatty tissue, water, and seasonings, usually smoked and slightly cooked. In Europe, these sausages are known as “scalded” because they are only scalded (pasteurized) and not fully cooked. Cooked sausages are ready-to-serve products, basically made from previously cooked fresh or exceptionally cured raw materials, subjected to final cooking after stuffing, with or without additional smoking. A subgroup of these sausages consists of cooked or baked specialties that are not stuffed into casings but moulded and, therefore, not always considered as sausages.
Past, present, and future scenario of the sausage in Manipur
Sausages are available in supermarkets in big metropolitan cities in a number of varieties such as the pork sausages, chicken sausages, beef sausages etc. As we are living in a fast-changing world, the working people don’t get enough time for preparing their food and this type of food provides a quick, convenient, and ready-to-eat food item. Also, in this present world, women as well started to work full time like men which eventually leads to insufficient time to cook. Andsausage provides an easy and quick food item for the kid’s tiffin as well for snacking during the lunch break in schools and also providing the necessary nutrients for the school going children. In order to increase the quality of the sausage and lower the price of the meat goods, non-meat ingredients are generally used. The components in these meat products come from a variety of sources, including pulses, dairy, eggs, plants, and microorganisms, including pro- biotics. In order to improve the emulsified properties of the sausage product, star-ches could be used as "binders" which will bind and hold all the ingredients together so that the sausage doesn’t break down individually. Additionally, star- ches used in non-meat components can promote the production of higher-quality, better nutrition, and healthy sausage.
In Manipur, sausages were made traditionally from time immemorial specially the tribal communities of the state as a special dish which is eaten in certain special occasions, marriages and in feast when the whole pig is being slaughtered to feed the guest and the community as a whole present in the gathering. The sausages were traditionally made from the pork innards, blood along with the locally grown traditional herbs and spices which is properly mixed together and stuffed into the thoroughly washed and cleaned pork small intestine and sometimes large intestine. The sausage is then boiled in clean water in a big vessel which is lined with banana leaves at the bottom of the vessel. The sausage is pricked with some pointed thin wooden pick or with the help of needle while the sausage is halfway boiled in order to release the air trapped inside the sausage casing thereby avoiding the cracking and bursting of the sausage. After boiling the sausage is taken out of the vessel and put it aside for some time to cool off and thereafter it is cut into desired size or length and is ready to be consumed hot. The cut sausage is also pan fried with little oil and is consume with onion and green chillies, also the sausage can be boiled with ginger, garlic, green chillies, onions, salt, turmeric powder and seasoned with coriander leavesand eaten as a snack or it can also be servedalong with white rice.
Packaged sausages mainly pork, chicken, beef, fish sausages are also available commercially inmini supermarketsand general stores in Imphal mostly in frozen forms which is imported from others states or from other countries specially from South Asian Countries.
(To be contd)