Method for preparing a casing material used in a co-extruding process of a food product, viscous gelling agent and a method and a system for preparing food products

A method for preparing food products by co-extrusion, comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a food dough;
• b) providing a viscous gelling solution;
• and
• c) co-extruding a strand of food dough and an external layer of viscous gelling solution, wherein the viscous gelling solution at least partially encloses the strand of food dough,
• d) treating an exterior of the strand of food dough with an aqueous salt solution;
• and
• e) dividing the strand of food dough into separated parts wherein the preparation of the viscous gelling solution provided in step b) comprises the steps of:
• i) providing two or more casing material components;
• ii) mixing the casing material components provided during processing step i) to a viscous gelling solution;
• and
• iii) feeding the viscous gelling solution of processing step ii) to the co-extrusion step c),
• wherein each of the casing material components provided during processing step i) is not suitable for co-extrusion as an external layer and wherein:
• the composition of the viscous gelling solution is adjusted by changing the volumes of the casing material components dependent on the required specification of the co-extruded food product;
• and/or
• the composition of the viscous gelling solution is adjusted by changing the volumes of the casing material components dependent on the information on the properties of the food dough and/or the co-extruded food product and wherein the mixing in step ii) is coupled to the co-extrusion and is a per-use preparation of the viscous gelling solution for the co-extrusion of food products.