WEIGHT-CONTROLLED RIPENING OF DRY SAUSAGE

It is the task of conditioning or ripening plant to remove water - a n ecessary basis for the existence of undesirable micro-organisms - from the whole of the material being treated both uniformly and to a contr olled time pattern. Moisture content, a(w) reduction and weight loss a re closely related to one another depending on the basic parameters es tablished and it would seem reasonable to establish some connection be tween weight loss and a(w) pattern. Weight measuring equipment (scales ) and time measuring equipment (clocks) are therefore needed so that w eight loss can be measured and controlled within the time pattern of t he drying process. Relevant technical possibilities and solutions, bas ed on time-related reference weight measurements, are discussed. The m icroprocessor technique is a useful approach to the problem.