Cured Meat Storage for Prolonged Freshness

 

Some people believe that once meat is cured, it stores forever with no special care or attention required. This isn’t true. Although cured meats can keep for much longer than raw or even cooked meat, they still need to be kept in specific conditions to prolong their freshness. Read on to learn how to store cured meat to preserve its freshness.

 

What is Cured Meat?

Cured meat specifically refers to a process that meat undergoes to remove much of the moisture from the meat. By going through this form of food preservation, the flavor is condensed into a smaller cut of meat, and the process tends to draw out potentially damaging bacteria from the otherwise raw piece of meat. The process used is osmosis, typically done through the addition of salt. Types of cured meat include prosciutto, chorizo, pepperoni, bacon, salami, and jerky.

 

How to Store Cured Meat

Curing meat has been a solution to safely eating and prolonging the life of meat for hundreds if not thousands of years. However, in the modern day, we have come up with several solutions for prolonging the life of meat even further. For example, if the meat has been packaged and vacuum sealed, it will last much longer. However, once the package is opened, the meat begins to decompose due to the oxygen around it.

Sealing the meat in plastic, wax, or another airtight coating and keeping it that way until it is ready for use is the first step to properly storing cured meat.

 

Storing Cured Meats in Refrigerated Shipping Containers

The next part of storage is the environment it is stored in. It is a good idea to store cured meats in a cool environment since warm temperatures still affect vacuum-packed foods negatively. The environment where you keep the cured meat should generally be no warmer than 64 degrees Fahrenheit or 18 degrees Celsius. Any warmer than this fosters a better environment for bacteria to grow on the cured meat, especially if any was left after the curing stage of the preservation process.

 

Storing Cured Meats in Insulated Shipping Containers

However, not all cured meat products are the same in their refrigeration needs. For example, jerky and whole muscle salumi, i.e., prosciutto and parma meat, can be left out of the refrigerator during storage and would still last for just as long. These have typically undergone a much more thorough process for the removal of moisture, though.

Most cured meats should be stored in a refrigerated environment to help them last for as long as possible, but some may do well enough in an insulated container so long as the outside environment isn’t too extreme.

 

Refrigerated Containers for Storing Cured Meats

 

Are you looking for an efficient way to store quite a lot of cured meats or preserve other kinds of food? You will want to look into refrigerated containers to create the perfect conditions for long-lasting meat storage. Refrigerated containers can also be modified with shelving and other characteristics to make them well-suited for your needs. Contact the container experts at Portable Refrigeration storage today to find your perfect cured meat storage solution.