Company History

The Beginning

Erwin O. Freund, the founder of what is known today as Viskase Companies, Inc. discovered he could make a sausage casing that could be used to replace animal intestine casings. This cellulosic casing stuffed well, could be linked and was able to withstand the rigors of the smokehouse. Quite by accident, he discovered that when the casing was removed from the product the sausages retained their shape and were firm. The skinless sausage was born!

In 1925, Mr. Freund organized a company by the name of Visking Corporation and the first production line of NOJAX® Casings began in a ramshackle building in the Chicago Union Stockyards.

Casing Innovations

Remaining ever close to the needs of the sausage makers, Visking Corporation's Cellulose Casings for large sausage products were introduced in 1927.

The first colored casings were introduced in 1931, along with a method of printing on the casings for brand identity and advertising promotion in the meat case. With this growth and prosperity came a new plant in Chicago in 1932.

In 1935, Fibrous Casing of reinforced cellulose was introduced. These casings were made by impregnating a fiber-reinforcing web, resulting in an extremely strong and uniform casing.

In the 1950's, Visking debuted striped NOJAX® Casings and E-Z PEEL® Fibrous Casings, while opening a plant in Beauvais, France and another in Loudon, Tennessee.

In the 1960's, SHIRMATIC® Fibrous Casings were developed, as was the automated stuffing equipment to use them. With pre-shirred casings, sausage makers now make uniform diameter product in the least amount of time.

In addition to product development, meeting the world's expanding global market became a real challenge in the 1970's. The company responded by opening worldwide operations in Thaon, France; Osceola, Arkansas; Caronno, Italy; Pulheim, Germany; Kentland, Indiana; and an applications laboratory in Beauvais, France.

New Innovations

In the 1980's the name of the company became Viskase Corporation and we set new standards with the invention of E-Z SMOKE® Fibrous Casings.

In the 21st century, Viskase continues to reach new heights with dynamic, market responsive product evolution:

• VISMAX® Nylon Casings provide processed meat and poultry producers higher yields and eliminate the need to repackage
• VISFLEX™ Nylon Casings, a multi-layer, small diameter casing can be used for a wide range of sausage and cook & ship applications

History reveals that our success has always been directly related to the success of our customers. This is why Viskase continues to devote its resources to satisfying the ever changing needs of the industry. As always, the future of our company begins today, with research, innovation and improvement for the purpose of meeting tomorrow's requirements.