Guideline on shelf-life of US vacuum-packed chilled beef

Hello Everyone!

Just wondering if there's any USDA guideline (or industry guideline) on the shelf-life of vacuum-packed chilled beef products, as only "pack on date" is available on many of them.

Thank you very much!

Annette

In the UK there has been a lot of chat about this over the years but there is also a very thorough guideline on packing MAP and vacuum packed foods.  The first thing you need to think of is the risk of C. botulinum.  If anything it errs to the side of being a bit over cautious in most peoples opinion that I'm aware of (we're getting loads of queries about this in cheese even though there is a massive history of safe use in cheese with respect to C. botulinum mostly due to the fact there is competing microflora in cheese and some acidity.  It's meats where the outbreak history is.)  In any case it gives you advice on suitable hurdle factors and if they are absent it's worth considering a challenge test (otherwise the recommended shelf life is 10 days).

That said, I would also recommend you do not ignore Listeria monocytogenes.  It's perfectly happy growing in anaerobic conditions and has a wider growth range. 

Just to back up my thoughts on the hazards in meat, did you know "botulism" is derived from the word "botulus" which means sausage in Latin so really it's "sausage disease".  :eek_yello:

Thank you very much GMO!

In my case, I'm getting USDA chilled beef products from my supplier that are months old from the packing date.  :crybaby:

Thank you very much GMO!

 

In my case, I'm getting USDA chilled beef products from my supplier that are months old from the packing date.  :crybaby:

:w00t: