Steaks, sausages and slices sold even if expired, after having been repackaged with a new expiry date. And when the appearance betrayed the bad conditions, the meat could be minced and sold to prepare meatballs or meat sauce. It happened in the butchery of a large supermarket, as they told them Hyenas in their program. The hidden camera has resumed the dialogues between the boss and the employee: «It does not matter if the meat has expired, what is left to re-label the re-packets and what is worth reproaching.
Fortunately though this is a case so rare to make news.

«The meat sold both in the butcher's and in the supermarkets are subject to control procedures by the producer and subjected to periodic official controls by the veterinarians of the ASL, explains the doctor Maria Grazia Volpe, of the Institute of Food Sciences of the National Research Council. "Furthermore, on the industrial packaging of foodstuffs of animal origin there is always the identification mark of the establishment which gives the certainty that the processing of the meat took place in a factory under the control of the official veterinarian".

Before consuming a food, it is always good to be certain of its safety: "It is essential for our well-being, because if the food is contaminated from a microbiological point of view or contains harmful elements, it can constitute a health hazard, with effects that they can manifest themselves after a short time, as in the case of acute toxins, but also after many years, through chronic diseases even serious . Here are his suggestions for choosing the freshest meat.

The labeling

The label is one very important tool and it is necessary to learn how to use it carefully when buying meat packaged in supermarket counters. Attention must be paid to the indications given: animal species (pig, bovine, sheep), trade name (fillet, capocollo, for example), country where the animal was bred, country in which it was slaughtered, factory code , reference code of the animal or the lot, price per kilo, date of preparation of the package, expiry date, method of preservation. Also for meat preparations, it is important to check on the label if frozen meat has been used, if there are additives, preservatives, flavorings.

Preservation

It is always advised to respect the methods and the term of conservation indicated on the label. Home preservation, if not correct, greatly affects the durability of food. The appropriate conservation methods allow to avoid potentially harmful deterioration, contamination or microbial growths. The meat in the fridge must always be protected by enclosures and containers and, if of different species, they must be separated. They must also not come into contact with other packaged foods, with vegetables, fruits and cooked food.

«Alarm bells

It is very important that the meat sold in refrigerated counters is in suitable condition. For example, the presence of excess liquid indicates that the food has been stored for some time. Attention also to the excessive presence of frost: it means that some temperature change has occurred. And, in general, if color or smell is altered, it is better not to consume the product.

Color

The color of the meat actually depends on many factors such as the species of the animal, the age, the sex, the type of feeding and above all the concentration of myoglobin in the muscle fibers and the structure of the muscle. Then it does not always indicate freshness some meat.

The expiration date

Some foods can be eaten even after the expiration date. There is a difference between "to be consumed within", the formula generally used for fresh and highly perishable foods, from «preferably consume within, which instead indicates only a time span within which the product loses some of its organoleptic characteristics, but is still edible. Dried pasta, rice, chocolate, freeze-dried foods, some canned foods can be consumed even after the expiration date.

In fresh foods, chemical alterations are triggered over time and microbial growth is recorded that can change nutritional and organoleptic characteristics and it is not enough to evaluate its taste, smell and fragrance. Food can be contaminated by pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, Campylobacter, Staphylococcus or Salmonella, which do not modify the sensory and physical characteristics, but are also very dangerous especially if they are eaten raw or undercooked.

These pathogenic microorganisms may be present in very low quantities at the beginning of the conservation period, and increase in number, until they become dangerous, as they approach, and exceed, the expiration date. For meat there is no uniformity: if the burgers and minced meat prepared by the butcher should be consumed within 48 hours, the interval rises to 4 or 5 days for medium-sized beef cuts and arrives at 7 – 10 for steaks or other small cuts packed in modified atmosphere. For this reason it is very important to read the labels carefully.