Did you bake meat on the last day of use? So long can you still eat it

The shelf life of minced meat is significantly shorter than in other meat. Adobe Stock / AOP

Meat products are sensitive to contamination. Therefore, they use the “expiry date” label. According to the Food Agency, the label must be placed on products that are very vulnerable to microbiologically and may cause health hazards after a short storage.

So what to do if, for example, the minced meat package is forgotten in the fridge and just getting old?

Quality leader Seija Pihlajaviita Atria tells that the last time is the shelf life promised for the industrial product when the product has been stored in the unopened packaging according to the instructions.

– If you cook minced meat, chicken or other meat, you can still eat it after the last day of use on raw meat. Provided that the cooked product is stored in the cold.

The cooked meat should be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator, like the raw meat.

Pihlajaviita emphasizes that after cooking, rapid cooling is also important.

– At least it is not advisable to leave the cooked product at room temperature for many hours.

A cooked product, such as meat sauce, can be eaten after cooking for a couple more days, says a nutrition expert Suvi Myllymäki From Snellman.

– For example, minced sauce made of the last day of use from minced meat can well enjoy a couple of days after cooking. There is no exact limit to this to where the food is useful. With food stored in the refrigerator, it is good to make a sensory estimate before enjoying it, ie look, smell and taste. If the food smells unpleasant or tastes strange, it should not be eaten.

In time to the freezer

If there is no immediate use for minced meat or other meat, it is advisable to freeze it as fresh as possible. The frozen minced meat remains properly stored for a few months.

– In the freezer, microbial operation stops, although physical and chemical changes such as drying and oxidation of fats can take place over time, even in a frozen product, says the specialist in the Food Agency Elina Leinonen.

However, according to Leinonen, the bacteria are not destroyed in the freezer but can continue to reproduce as the meat melts again, so on the last day of use, it is advisable to cook in the freezer on the day of thawing.

– Even if the minced meat package has a week of shelf life at the time of freezing, that does not mean that it has a week of shelf life after the time spent in the freezer, says Myllymäki.

It is a good idea to melt the meat in a cool place. The minced meat left on the table for a day may spoil very quickly.

– Frozen and properly melted minced meat and other meat are subject to the same principle as fresh: after careful cooking it can be enjoyed as a sauce, soup or meatballs at least the next two days, says Myllymäki.

Safe use

The Food Agency’s website reminds us that meat is an easy -to -free food and all kinds of hygiene has an effect on the shelf life of the meat.

Raw meat may also include pathogens such as campylobacteria or salmonella in poultry meat, eHec bacteria in beef or yersin bacteria in pork.

Raw meat should be stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

Minced meat is considerably shorter than that of the rest of the meat.

Because of the possible pathogens, the pork and beef minced meat should be cooked at least 70 degrees and poultry minced meat + 75 degrees.

In addition, raw meat should be stored and treated separately from ripe meat and other foods.

Uncooked meat, and especially raw minced meat, can contain ehec bacteria. It can cause colon inflammation, such as bloody diarrhea and stomach spasms. Only a very small number of bacteria can cause infection.

According to the Food Authority, the likelihood of the occurrence of the ehec bacterium in Finland is very low in meat.