Shipping Cured Meats
- Thread starter jfsjazz
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Lets remember that cure does not make them room temp shelf stable... Cure is only for the cooking process... Myself, I would pack in dry ice or use the frozen gel packs with a MAX of 2 day shipping...
If they're cured,smoked and cooked and then vac sealed I wouldn't worry.
Even without preservatives a Slim Jim or equivalent has one hell of a shelf life.
Even without preservatives a Slim Jim or equivalent has one hell of a shelf life.
STOP !!! ...... No, you cannot safely ship cured meats.... They have moisture in them... They are NOT pH adjusted... They do NOT have mold inhibitors added.....
NEVER ship cooked meat....
........
Slim Jim's are preserved.........
Ingredients
A 2009 Wired article listed some of the ingredients as beef, mechanically separated chicken, lactic acid starter culture, dextrose, salt, sodium nitrite and hydrolyzed soy.[13] They note that although ConAgra refers to Slim Jim as a "meat stick", it resembles a fermented sausage, such as salami or pepperoni, which uses bacteria and sugar to produce lactic acid, lowering the pH of the sausage to around 5.0 and firming up the meat.[13]
Sodium nitrite is added to prevent the meat from turning gray,[13] and hydrolyzed soy contains monosodium glutamate.[13]
..........
This very cool video from Wired puts the ingredient listing into layman’s terms, and it’s a little frightening. It starts with beef (most likely the lower grades from the oldest cows, called utility, cutter, and canner). It’s ground and mixed with mechanically separated chicken, which is the chicken equivalent of “pink slime” (even though the production process is different), essentially puréed chicken bones, nerves, blood vessels, skin, and a small amount of meat. Sugar, spices, additional flavorings, and a whole lot of salt (one-sixth the daily recommended intake) are then added, along with corn and wheat protein (for texture), and hydrolyzed gluten (which gives it an MSG-like savoriness). Traditional sausage-making ingredients lactic acid starter culture (which keeps the pH balance down) and sodium nitrite (which prevents botulism and keeps the meat red) are then added, and the slurry is piped into a casing and allowed to ferment until ready to eat.
.......
What's Inside a Slim Jim?
* Photo: Tim Morris * Beef
It's real meat, all right. But it ain't Kobe. The US Department of Agriculture categorizes beef into eight grades of quality. The bottom three—utility, cutter, and canner—are typically used in processed foods and come from older steers with partially ossified vertebrae, tougher tissue, and generally less reason to live. ConAgra wasn't exactly forthcoming on what's inside Slim Jim.
Mechanically separated chicken
Did you imagine a conveyor belt carrying live chickens into a giant machine, set to the classic cartoon theme "Powerhouse"? You're right! Well, maybe not about the music. Poultry scraps are pressed mechanically through a sieve that extrudes the meat as a bright pink paste and leaves the bones behind (most of the time).
Corn and wheat proteins
Slim Jim is made by ConAgra, and if there are two things ConAgra has a lot of, it's corn and wheat.
Lactic acid starter culture
Although ConAgra refers to Slim Jim as a meat stick (yum), it has a lot in common with old-fashioned fermented sausages like salami and pepperoni. They all use bacteria and sugar to produce lactic acid, which lowers the pH of the sausage to around 5.0, firming up the meat and hopefully killing all harmful bacteria.
Dextrose
Serves as food for the lactic acid starter culture. Slim Jim: It's alive!
Salt
Salt binds the water molecules in meat, leaving little H2O available for microbial activity—and thereby preventing spoilage. One Slim Jim gives you more than one-sixth of the sodium your body needs in a day.
Sodium nitrite
Cosmetically, this is added to sausage because it combines with myoglobin in animal muscle to keep it from turning gray. Antibiotically, it inhibits botulism. Toxicologically, 6 grams of the stuff—roughly the equivalent of 1,400 Slim Jims—can kill you. So go easy there, champ.
Hydrolyzed soy
Hydrolysis, in this instance, breaks larger soy protein molecules into their constituent amino acids, such as glutamic acid. Typically, the process also results in glutamic acid salt—also known as monosodium glutamate, a familiar flavor enhancer.
NEVER ship cooked meat....
........
Slim Jim's are preserved.........
Ingredients
A 2009 Wired article listed some of the ingredients as beef, mechanically separated chicken, lactic acid starter culture, dextrose, salt, sodium nitrite and hydrolyzed soy.[13] They note that although ConAgra refers to Slim Jim as a "meat stick", it resembles a fermented sausage, such as salami or pepperoni, which uses bacteria and sugar to produce lactic acid, lowering the pH of the sausage to around 5.0 and firming up the meat.[13]
Sodium nitrite is added to prevent the meat from turning gray,[13] and hydrolyzed soy contains monosodium glutamate.[13]
..........
This very cool video from Wired puts the ingredient listing into layman’s terms, and it’s a little frightening. It starts with beef (most likely the lower grades from the oldest cows, called utility, cutter, and canner). It’s ground and mixed with mechanically separated chicken, which is the chicken equivalent of “pink slime” (even though the production process is different), essentially puréed chicken bones, nerves, blood vessels, skin, and a small amount of meat. Sugar, spices, additional flavorings, and a whole lot of salt (one-sixth the daily recommended intake) are then added, along with corn and wheat protein (for texture), and hydrolyzed gluten (which gives it an MSG-like savoriness). Traditional sausage-making ingredients lactic acid starter culture (which keeps the pH balance down) and sodium nitrite (which prevents botulism and keeps the meat red) are then added, and the slurry is piped into a casing and allowed to ferment until ready to eat.
.......
What's Inside a Slim Jim?
* Photo: Tim Morris * BeefIt's real meat, all right. But it ain't Kobe. The US Department of Agriculture categorizes beef into eight grades of quality. The bottom three—utility, cutter, and canner—are typically used in processed foods and come from older steers with partially ossified vertebrae, tougher tissue, and generally less reason to live. ConAgra wasn't exactly forthcoming on what's inside Slim Jim.
Mechanically separated chicken
Did you imagine a conveyor belt carrying live chickens into a giant machine, set to the classic cartoon theme "Powerhouse"? You're right! Well, maybe not about the music. Poultry scraps are pressed mechanically through a sieve that extrudes the meat as a bright pink paste and leaves the bones behind (most of the time).
Corn and wheat proteins
Slim Jim is made by ConAgra, and if there are two things ConAgra has a lot of, it's corn and wheat.
Lactic acid starter culture
Although ConAgra refers to Slim Jim as a meat stick (yum), it has a lot in common with old-fashioned fermented sausages like salami and pepperoni. They all use bacteria and sugar to produce lactic acid, which lowers the pH of the sausage to around 5.0, firming up the meat and hopefully killing all harmful bacteria.
Dextrose
Serves as food for the lactic acid starter culture. Slim Jim: It's alive!
Salt
Salt binds the water molecules in meat, leaving little H2O available for microbial activity—and thereby preventing spoilage. One Slim Jim gives you more than one-sixth of the sodium your body needs in a day.
Sodium nitrite
Cosmetically, this is added to sausage because it combines with myoglobin in animal muscle to keep it from turning gray. Antibiotically, it inhibits botulism. Toxicologically, 6 grams of the stuff—roughly the equivalent of 1,400 Slim Jims—can kill you. So go easy there, champ.
Hydrolyzed soy
Hydrolysis, in this instance, breaks larger soy protein molecules into their constituent amino acids, such as glutamic acid. Typically, the process also results in glutamic acid salt—also known as monosodium glutamate, a familiar flavor enhancer.
If you go UPS they will have the safe way to send them . I have never used them , but have looked into it . They have special containers and guide lines for such things , so it can be done .
Ok HERE'S how you do it . Go to UPS tell them you want to send perishable food products . Give them the destination . They will tell you a price . You say yes or no . Happens everyday .
I would think UPS knows more about shipping than most of us---Probably ALL of Us.
Definitely more than I know.
Bear
Mail Order Food Safety
www.fsis.usda.gov
Convenience means many things to many people, but anything that helps save time is always high on everyone's list of conveniences. With more Americans working and being more time-crunched than ever, the ultimate time saver and convenience is home delivery of mail order foods.
While the mail order industry enjoys a good safety record, ordering food through the mail may cause concerns about food safety, shelf life, and distribution. It's imperative to develop some mental checklists for how both food and packaging should look when perishable mail order foods arrive. This is especially true for meat, poultry, fish, and other perishable foods such as cheesecake, which must be carefully handled in a timely manner to prevent foodborne illness.
The following food safety tips will help the purchaser and recipient determine if their perishable foods have been handled properly:
- Make sure the company sends perishable items, like meat or poultry, cold or frozen and packed with a cold source. It should be packed in foam or heavy corrugated cardboard.
- The food should be delivered as quickly as possible—ideally, overnight. Make sure perishable items and the outer package are labeled "Keep Refrigerated" to alert the recipient.
- When you receive a food item marked "Keep Refrigerated," open it immediately and check its temperature. The food should arrive frozen or partially frozen with ice crystals still visible or at least refrigerator cold—below 40 °F as measured with a food thermometer. Even if a product is smoked, cured, vacuum-packed, and/or fully cooked, it still is a perishable product and must be kept cold. If perishable food arrives warm—above 40 °F as measured with a food thermometer—notify the company. Do not consume the food. Do not even taste suspect food.
- Tell the recipient if the company has promised a delivery date. Or alert the recipient that "the gift is in the mail" so someone can be there to receive it. Don't have perishable items delivered to an office unless you know it will arrive on a work day and there is refrigerator space available for keeping it cold.
For perishable foods prepared at home and mailed, follow these guidelines:
- Ship in a sturdy box.
- Pack with a cold source, i.e., frozen gel packs or dry ice.
- When using dry ice:
- Don't touch the dry ice with bare hands.
- Don't let it come in direct contact with food.
- Warn the recipient of its use by writing "Contains Dry Ice" on the outside of the box.
- Wrap box in two layers of brown paper.
- Use permanent markers to label outside of the box. Use recommended packing tape.
- Label outside clearly; make sure address is complete and correct.
- Write "Keep Refrigerated" on outside of the box.
- Alert recipient of its expected arrival.
- Do not send to business addresses or where there will not be adequate refrigerator storage.
- Do not send packages at the end of the week. Send them at the beginning of the week so they do not sit in the post office or mailing facility over the weekend.
- Whenever possible, send foods that do not require refrigeration, e.g., hard salami, hard cheese, country ham.
Use the handy chart, compiled by the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline and FDA Outreach and Information Center, to plan your purchase, send a home-prepared item, and store popular mail order foods.
That's exactly right . I built a UPS distribution hub at The St. Louis airport years ago . Part of the contract was I had to go thru the same training as the handlers . Week long 8 hours a day . Believe me they have it covered .
My original comment ,
Thanks to all who weighed in here! I appreciate all of the insight and experience!!!
I think I have 2 options:
1. Send it properly packaged within food safety standards, or
2. Make my son wait until his next visit home!!!
And, they learned all that from the FSIS..... If they didn't do it like FSIS recommendations, they would be cited... Just like restaurants... etc....
Not to keep this going but a wonder some of isn't sick if its all that bad. I know that it has been done and that doesn't mean that its right just saying. For instance the Christmas exchange I know things have been shipped and not to the standards mention here. So may we need a post on proper way of shipping.
Warren
Warren
Sorry Dave you missed my point. What I mean is a place where people can look to find a post for food safety and shipping without having to read many post in another thread to find it. Like yours look at post #10 in the middle of a another post. If I didn't read this thread I would never see your post #10.
Warren
Warren
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