Gas Flushing Poultry

Hi,
We buy in raw poultry which is gas flushed, this is then worked on by our poluterer, repackaged raw then sold on. We also use gas flushing when it is repackaged, but my problem is the use by date of this product. Obvioulsy we dont use the use by date on the box which the poultry has been delivered in as we are breaking the seal by opening these bags and reworking the poultry. I am unsure of what length of shelf life this product should have. We use to get in fresh chickens which was fine but now I am confused. Could anyone shed some light on this area or provide me with any useful information. Many thanks

Hi,
We buy in raw poultry which is gas flushed, this is then worked on by our poluterer, repackaged raw then sold on. We also use gas flushing when it is repackaged, but my problem is the use by date of this product. Obvioulsy we dont use the use by date on the box which the poultry has been delivered in as we are breaking the seal by opening these bags and reworking the poultry. I am unsure of what length of shelf life this product should have. We use to get in fresh chickens which was fine but now I am confused. Could anyone shed some light on this area or provide me with any useful information. Many thanks

Any poultry gas flushers out there willing to help Highland Chick?

I never thought I'd type that...

Hi Chick

I think that if you are breaking the seal once product is received, then you are breaking all the whole quality chain of this product. As result of this, normally you have to restart everything again and do micro test, because the product will been in contact and exposed to the worker.

So what type of work you do on product after been received from your first supplier? Do you marinated them or cook ?

After rework from your facility, I think you will have to test for shelf based on micro guidelines established. You can sendout to accredited lab your final product and request micro count on APC, generic E.coli, 0157 and bateria anaerobia. Don't forget also to run your organoloeptic test.

I think that yur shelf life is define on 14 days. So you can ask for count on days 3,5,7,9,11 and 14. Then you can compare to your limite established and compare.
Conclusion:

Since you are breaking the seal from your first supplier, you must redo all the quality control as if you are the one making the product.

I hope that I answer your question. Sorry, my english is not that strong but I tried.

Thanks

Mr Traceability

Hi Mr Tracebility,
Thank you for this useful information. We dont cook or marinade the chicken what we do is we portion the whole chickens and sell on. We do the same procedure with duck as well. I understand what you say and couldnt think of any other answer myself but thought I would ask anyway.