Standing Rib Roast Food Safety Question


 
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Colbert Cannon

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If I get a standing rib roast on Friday the 21st, and cook it on the 25th (keeping it in a fridge in between), does that pose any food safety risks? anything that I can do to be more rather then less safe in terms of what kind of container to keep it in / wrapped in plastic vs. not etc?

Can't have everybody getting sick on Christmas!
 
Shouldn't be any concern whatsoever. The main thing you want to do is check the sell by date as well as the integrity of the packaging the meat is in and the color. You also want to get it to home and chilled from the store as quickly as possible as you would with any meat.
 
Perfect, thats what I thought. I'm getting it from a local butcher, so will be just wrapped in typical butcher wax paper - should I wrap it in plastic, or does that matter?

thanks for the quick response
 
Similar question here. My local grocery has standing rib roast on sale for $5.99 per pound. Sale ends in Christmas eve.

Problem is that we have a dinner party scheduled for New Year's Eve and I plan on a smoked standing rib roast then.

The original poster is wondering about a 4 day delay in cooking...how about a full week? That just seems too long to me. Any other opinions??
 
Lee, any chance you can get your fridge down to around 33-34 degrees or have access to a second fridge that could be turned down? I would think that if you put the roast in a freezer bag and got as much air out as possible it would be OK, but I'm just speculating.

You could also ask at the store if the roasts were shipped frozen, and if that's the case maybe you can get one that's still frozen and then thaw it as you need.

Brad
 
Have the butcher vac seal it for you. Store it in the very back and bottom of the fridge.
icon_wink.gif
 
I'm with Bryan. If he can do it, have it vac'd.

Sell-by dates are fairly immaterial when it comes to meats. I ignore them. They can vary--and do--by store policy, company policy, or by whim as nothing governs them. Pretty useless. What you want to know is the 'pack date'. This date is stamped on the case the meat was packed in at packing house--and is required by law.

Sell-by dates have nothing to do with food safety nor, often, quality. Sell-bys on meats are arbitrary; pack dates are not.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I'm with Bryan. If he can do it, have it vac'd.

Sell-by dates are fairly immaterial when it comes to meats. I ignore them. They can vary--and do--by store policy, company policy, or by whim as nothing governs them. Pretty useless. What you want to know is the 'pack date'. This date is stamped on the case the meat was packed in at packing house--and is required by law.

Sell-by dates have nothing to do with food safety nor, often, quality. Sell-bys on meats are arbitrary; pack dates are not. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Kevin I agree with you to a point.

You state, "Sell-by dates have nothing to do with food safety nor, often, quality" TRUE

However, if there were no sell by dates, there would be lots of unscrupulous and greedy retailers out there selling old crap to people.

It's just a safe guard that I can deal with.

As far as the pack dates, most of "meat cutters" working in a typical grocery store wouldn't know how to look for it!!! Wouldn't you agree?? So the average consumer basically has no other option but to trust the sell by date and to check the integrity, look and odor of the meat they purchase! Or buy cases of meat in order to determine the pack date! Wouldn't you agree?

Sure High End grocers 9 times out of 10 will be able to provide and understand, but not everyone shops in a High End market on a daily basis. Wouldn't you agree?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Larry Wolfe:
However, if there were no sell by dates, there would be lots of unscrupulous and greedy retailers out there selling old crap to people. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I've seen more than 1 TV expose' where stores were caught on hidden camera rewrapping/relabeling meat that was getting very close to the sell-by date. A bit discomforting to say the least...

Brad
 
Larry, if it is true that retailers can whilly nilly put any sell-by date they want on the package, then how could it mean anything regarding quality and safety?

I've seen several retailers in my area selling grayish meat for price reduced with two sell-by stickers on top of the initial sticker. It is rather appalling to see that in the display case.
 
Not trying to start a debate here. All I'm trying to say is that the average "Joe" consumer has nothing more than the sell by date to trust because they really don't know any better.

Sure there are places that will cut corners and change labels, rewrap meat or reduce the price of meat not fit for a dog. But the majority of the chain grocery stores have guidelines to go by when they're wrapping meat. Do they all follow them? NO

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by David Lohrentz:
Larry, if it is true that retailers can whilly nilly put any sell-by date they want on the package, then how could it mean anything regarding quality and safety?

I've seen several retailers in my area selling grayish meat for price reduced with two sell-by stickers on top of the initial sticker. It is rather appalling to see that in the display case. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Where did I say that? Someone else said that, not me.
 
I said it. And you seemed to agree when you said True.

It is true. I have said here and elsewhere numerous times: sell-bys on meats do not connote nor denote safe meat or quality meat. They might, but with no legal requirement for their use and no legal methods to determine the date in the first place, I ignore them. The only thing a retailer must legally do--if they decide to use a sell-by date--is to employ an acceptable date format, determining the date is left to the retailer and, as David correctly notes, dates are changed, and there is nothing to prevent this on a federal level. If a retailer is 'reasonably sure' the meat is still of good quality he or she can extend the date on the current package; or repackage the meat; or grind the meat and repackage it. This happens all the time. (There may be local or state regulations in the area in which you shop, but you'd have to look into it at those levels.)

Whether the meat people that work the counter know the pack date off the tops of their heads I doubt as well. But the pack dates are on the cases the meat was shipped in--they have to be. If I am buying a roast and it is important for me to know the pack date (such as for times I want to wet-age or dry-age, or for times I need to calculate probable shelf life) I never buy from the meat case, only from the walk-in where cased meat is stored. Other than that, I don't worry about pack dates. And I always ignore sell-bys on meats.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by K Kruger:
I said it. And you seemed to agree when you said True.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I stated it is "True" that "Sell-by dates have nothing to do with food safety nor, often, quality". "Sell-by dates have nothing to do with food safety nor, often, quality". However I did not state what David said I did, "Larry, if it is true that retailers can whilly nilly put any sell-by date they want on the package, then how could it mean anything regarding quality and safety?"

You stated that "Sell-bys on meats are arbitrary;" Which I disagree with..... Sure some places do indeed do this, but you're painting with a broad brush when you state ALL retailers arbitrarily put dates on meat.

Note from Moderator: Deleted personal attack.
 
"Arbitrary" means depending on individual discretion and not fixed by law. As stated, unless the store is subject to local or state laws, sell-bys are indeed arbitrary. There are no federal requirements.

Here, I'll quote FSIS:

<span class="ev_code_RED">Is Dating Required by Federal Law?

Except for infant formula and some baby food (see below), product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations. However, if a calendar date is used, it must express both the month and day of the month (and the year, in the case of shelf-stable and frozen products). If a calendar date is shown, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as "sell-by" or "use before."

There is no uniform or universally accepted system used for food dating in the United States. </span>

Again, local laws may apply but you'd need to see what they are. If there are no local laws that apply there might be store or corporate policy that does--but as we've seen time and time again, since these types of policies depend on the discretion of the store or corporate body--and, as such, are arbitrary--the consumer has no way of knowing if the sell-by dates employed are valid in any meaningful way.

Note from Moderator: Deleted response to personal attack.
 
I've deleted portions of the above thread. Not the kind of discussion I want to see here on TVWBB. Let's keep things cordial or I will close this thread.

Thanks,
Chris
 
This thread has been a real eye opener for me. I always thought the "sell-by" dates were some sort of USDA/FDA reg. IMO, it does open the door for stores to play fast and loose with food safety. Then again, I don't think many large retailers would do something like that. I'd think it would be very risky for them from a PR standpoint...I mean, if I started getting rotten meat from a store I'd seriously consider not shopping there anymore, and I'd probably tell others not to shop there as well. Also, FWIW, I've never once unwittingly purchased meat that smelled bad or that I thought was remotely past it's prime. It has just never happened.
 
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