Sheep Casing and Cold Smoking question

[Scotttaylor007]

I am considering switching from collagen casings to sheep casings for my snack sticks and I have a question. I have found the best results from cold smoking my snack sticks then transferring them to my commercial dehydrator to bring them to temp / texture I like (I do add cure). My question is, are there any health or safety concerns I should be aware of utilizing this method, specifically related to sheep casings? Any other considerations to be aware of?

 

[smokerjim]

As far as I can tell you shouldn't have any concerns.

 

[dward51]

The only thing I can add is sheep casings will tend to want to curl instead of lay straight like the collagen casings do.

I would also suggest since it's a natural casing that you mix the cure/spices with the meat, stuff and let them sit in the fridge overnight. That also gives the cure time to come into contact with the casing as well, otherwise I would still stick to a 4 hours below 140 degrees due to the fresh casing out of an abundance of caution. Treat them like you would a pork casing stuffed product. Smoke if cured (and rested overnight to let cure work), or treat as fresh if not. But that's me....