Thursday, April 06, 2006

When is meat safe to eat?

I went grocery shopping this morning. Every week I go through the meat aisles, look at pork chops, ground feef and steak. I am looking for those $2.00 off stickers. Right after dropping the kids off at school is the best time. I hit the jackpot today. Really good deal.... 4 packages of sliced thin pork chops for $1.50 each, 2 1lb packages of 93% ground beef for $2.09 and then a steak for $2.00 as well. I never have found chicken marked down. The meat is thrown right into the freezer.

I came home and found this article Is your meat safe to eat Of course that catches my attention as I am concerned about food safety for my family.

Shoppers who think they can spot older meat may be getting outsmarted by a secret science — using carbon monoxide to keep meat looking red and fresh.

Well that was my secret weapon, I guess no more.

The industry says that consumers can rely on the sell-by date on the package, and that the process is well-studied and safe. However, some food-safety advocates point out that the practice is banned in Europe, and they want the U.S. government to take a harder look.

I also go by the sell by date but I find my store marks down the meat on the last sell-by date so I shop for the good deals and freeze it as soon as I get home.

I guess my tactics for buying discounted meat are still safe.

No comments: