How To Make Your Meat Last Longer?

Meat is known for being much more perishable, so you need to treat it with special attention and extra care. This way, meat will remain at acceptable quality for longer of time. Meat is a mass of organic matter that is rich in nutrients and energy, providing microorganism with perfect place to proliferate. You should know that even if meat is refrigerated, it can still be affected by bacterial growth. When the meat is affected by pathogenic meat, it could make us sick. When the freezer seem to smell differently, it is possible that the meat is already contaminated by pathogenic bacteria. At first level of contamination, the meat doesn’t immediately make you sick, but it should change quite differently.  The contamination could take place during the processing and cutting process. In general, bacteria are more likely to multiply if there’s ample supply of moisture and the temperature is warm enough. So, it is important that you are able to make the meat last longer than usual.

There are different forms of meat that we normally find, canned, cured, fresh, frozen and cooked. Cooked meat could be reheated repeatedly so they won’t go bad. However, you shouldn’t do this for more than a week, because the repeated reheating process will degrade the texture, taste and overall quality of the meat. Meat could also be frozen and stored so they can be used later. Meat will last for a long time if it is stored under minus 10 degree Fahrenheit. Meat starts to become frozen at zero degrees Fahrenheit, but it is not cold enough for prolonged storage. When choosing a freezer unit, it is important to make sure that the temperature of the meat is evenly distributed. It is important to know that prolonged freezing won’t maintain the quality, but the flavour, nutritional value, texture and color should be mostly retained. When placing fresh meat into the freezer, you should make sure that it is immediately placed at the coldest part of the unit. The location should be away from the door and far to the back.

There are also ready to eat, smoked and cured meats; such as smoked pork, sausage products, ham and bacon. The smoking process, heat exposure and various preservation techniques should inactivate most bacterial growth and the operation of enzymes. If you want to prevent any kind contamination, it is a good idea to ensure that the meat is still in its original wrapping. After being opened, the cured meat should stay fresh for about one week. In general, luncheon shouldn’t be frozen. Lamb, veal and ground beef shouldn’t stay for longer than three months in the freezer. Sausage shouldn’t be in freezer for longer than 60 days. However, fresh veal and beef which are frozen very well should last for about 9 months in the freezer unit. It is not recommended to freeze luncheon meats, smoked sausage and dried sausage. They should be well preserved in the refrigeration unit, however you should check with the manufacturer on how long they should be in there.