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Sheep Casing Grade
Salt has been used as a direct preservative for
thousands of years particularly as an extension
agent for meat and fish products. The preservation
action of salt is through a reduction of water
activity. The salt level and its influence on water
activity, in combination with other factors including
pH and temperature, are the primary determinants of
microbial growth.
Pakistan being a major exporter of sheep casing uses
a lot of salt for the preservation. Salt is a very
important contributor to the preservation of sheep
casing, it may be added, as dry salt or brine, and is used
in combination with techniques such as drying, soaking
and fermentation as well as in combination with other
preservative compounds. HUB-PAK is playing its due role
with the contribution of excellent quality salt for the
sheep casing industry. There are over 10 different grades
which qualify to be used in such applications.
 Leather is made from animal skins or hides which
have been chemically treated to preserve quality and
natural beauty. The chemical procedure used to ready
raw animal hides for use is called "tanning." A
piece of hide or skin which has been tanned produces
a strong, flexible leather which is able to resist
decay and the majority of leather made today is
produced from tanned cattle hides, though many types
of hides can be used, including those from horses,
goats, calves, lambs, deer, kangaroos, reptiles,
seals, and walruses.
Raw animal skins go through several steps during the
tanning process. Depending on the type of hide used
and the desired end-product, the steps taken during
tanning can vary greatly according to the demand of
the end product.
Animal skins or hides are first "cured," a process
which involves salting and/or drying the hide once
it's been stripped from the animal. can be cured
either by Wet-Salting or Brine-Curing. Brine-curing
is more common than wet-salting, as it's considered
a faster, easier method. During brine-curing, hides
are positioned carefully in vats and smothered with
a mixture of salt and disinfectant.
Flossy Salt (Hide Salt) is used in the tanning
industry, mainly for the processing of cattle skins.
It has other chemicals added which acts as
pesticides.
Boric Acid up to 1.0% and Sodium Fluoride up to 1% is
added to control bacterial growth in the hide .
Hides and sheep skins are normally salted with a
reasonably low quality salt, that is the basic
reason that HUB-PAK does not enjoy a good market in
this segment, ofcourse with a few exceptions of real
quality conscious customers . Hide salts are usually
only washed grades but the additives need to be
monitored very strictly, as in the absence of proper
chemical dosing it might spoil the expensive
leather.
Typical Sieve Analysis or Mesh Size Distribution (
MSD ) used in this grade is between 2 mm and 0.5mm,
thus it is commonly known as Flossy Salt.
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