Food casing of nonderivatized cellulose

A tubular cellulose film comprising a food casing which is a shirred seamless tubular film of nonderivatized cellulose precipitated from an extruded thermoplastic cellulose solution composed of cellulose, a tertiary amine oxide and water, said tubular film having a diameter of at least 14.5 mm containing a water soluble softener and said tubular film having chains of cellulose molecules arranged in a nonrandom fashion such that said chains have order both in the direction of said chains and in a plane normal to the chain direction as manifest by an x-ray diffraction pattern for said film, said pattern having equatorial spots at spacings of about 8.6 .ANG. and about 17.1 .ANG., four meridional arcs at spacings of from about 11.7 .ANG. to about 2.6 .ANG. and a diffuse ring having its equatorial span greater than its meridional span.