Cooked Pork - How long is it safe in the Fridge?

[GMX]

Due to the fact my brother and sister-in-law came down with flu, a week apart, and didn't make it down here for either Xmas or the week after, I've ended up with a fridge full of roasted joints.  My other brother, who did make it down relieved me of a couple of gammons when he went back.  However, I still have around a 2.5 kilo joint of roast pork, a rolled shoulder joint, in the fridge.  Which is now a week old, since it was roasted.

I was under the impression, that once it's a week old (any cooked meat not just pork), it's no longer safe for human consumption but can be given to dogs, cats and other carnivorous pets, for up to 2 weeks since cooking. 

Conversely, a mate of mine, reckons providing it doesn't smell rank, it can be irradiated in the microwave for 5-10 minutes on full power, it's safe to eat for a lot longer than a week. I'd not heard of this approach with food before; but it is used widely with those who make their own seed compost.  Except it's a full hour at full power in the microwave to sterilise compost.  I wouldn't have thought 5-10 minutes would be long enough for sterilisation purposes

Googling it, comes up with some quite conflicting views, between those who stick to the 5-7 days and those "if it doesn't smell - you'll be fine", through to the "I've eaten semi-putrified pork in a hot country and was fine" brigade

Who is right, if anyone is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Stoney871]

Cooked meat can be safely refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Pre-packed meats are safe to the use-by date as long as they are unopened (packed in an inert gas such as Nitrogen to remove any Oxygen which bacteria needs to grow).

Freshly cooked meat must be cooled as quickly as possible and if not needed immediately can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Freezing does not kill bacteria, only suspends it, so if it was 'off' before freezing then it will still be 'off' after defrosting.

Only heat will kill bacteria.

(I was a Master Butcher and Deli Manager in a previous incarnation).

Microwave ovens don't 'irradiate' food in the strictest sense although it is a form of radiation (but not the three headed, glow in the dark kind ), it's basically high-frequency radio waves based on early radar technology (accidental discovery by someone who found his chocolate bar melted in his pocket when operating a radar unit).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

 

[jmurray01]

3 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

Microwave ovens don't 'irradiate' food in the strictest sense although it is a form of radiation (but not the three headed, glow in the dark kind ), it's basically high-frequency radio waves based on early radar technology (accidental discovery by someone who found his chocolate bar melted in his pocket when operating a radar unit).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

 

Crikey.  Makes you wonder what it did to him!!

[WES180]

It also depends how good your fridge is! Ive come back into work today and the school kitchens fridge is running at 20 degrees!

That will cheer the cook up no end when she comes in and has to bin everything. I opened the door to be met with a waft of smelly warm air! 

[GMX]

5 hours ago, Stoney871 said:

Cooked meat can be safely refrigerated for up to 4 days.

Pre-packed meats are safe to the use-by date as long as they are unopened (packed in an inert gas such as Nitrogen to remove any Oxygen which bacteria needs to grow).

Freshly cooked meat must be cooled as quickly as possible and if not needed immediately can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Freezing does not kill bacteria, only suspends it, so if it was 'off' before freezing then it will still be 'off' after defrosting.

Only heat will kill bacteria.

(I was a Master Butcher and Deli Manager in a previous incarnation).

Microwave ovens don't 'irradiate' food in the strictest sense although it is a form of radiation (but not the three headed, glow in the dark kind ), it's basically high-frequency radio waves based on early radar technology (accidental discovery by someone who found his chocolate bar melted in his pocket when operating a radar unit).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

 

Thanks Clive

So my 7 days is almost twice as longs as it should be.  

Is the up to a fortnight still OK for Brandy and Molly?

They had some roast pork for breakfast with their chicken necks and Kitekat respectively, not that they'll want it for every meal.

 

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, WES180 said:

It also depends how good your fridge is! Ive come back into work today and the school kitchens fridge is running at 20 degrees!

That will cheer the cook up no end when she comes in and has to bin everything. I opened the door to be met with a waft of smelly warm air! 

How did that even happen?  It's only 18c in my flat today!  

 

Tbh I think it depends how strong your stomach is as to how 'safe' something is, some people seem to get away with more bacteria than others...  One of my Nans best quotes last year was when her oven broke with raw frozen chicken in it...  She still ate the chicken and when I asked if it was cooked she said 'well it was defrosted'...    No ill effects at all!!  She'll also happily eat yogurts well out of date rather than waste them lol.

[dezwez]

I wouldn't keep it longer than 3 days 

[GMX]

14 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

One of my Nans best quotes last year was when her oven broke with raw frozen chicken in it...  She still ate the chicken and when I asked if it was cooked she said 'well it was defrosted'...    No ill effects at all!!  She'll also happily eat yogurts well out of date rather than waste them lol.

Didn't it smell? 

I thaw two chicken carcases at a time for Brandy, a day ahead, but if she something else and one of the chickens get to being 2-3 days old, although still fresh-ish. It pongs highly  and not a pleasantly either

When I open the bag, it's stand back to avoid the old poultry aroma wafting out of it. doesn't seem to bother Brandy; but she will eat a 24 hour old caracse with more gusto than a 2-3 day one, I've noticed

There is a family story concerning my Grandad, when he was a sapper and a large gammon.  A gammon that had started to grow a red fluffy mould in some places and white one in others.  He intercepted it's journey to the dustbin and asked if he could have it, as technically it still belonged to the MOD.   He bought it home and instructed my Nan to shave off the mould!  Needless to say, he was on his own when it came to eating it,  none of my uncles and aunt nor my Mum joined him in the consumption of the previously fluffy gammon. 

[Gizza11]

If it smells a bit ripe it's bad, joking apart I will only eat cooked meat on the day its cooked  EG.I woun't  eat chicken wings at a party buffet or anything cooked left overnight unless its unopened from the shop in the fridge . As I had Salmonella poising when I was younger still very wary now

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, GMX said:

Didn't it smell?  

Probably...  But she just can't stand to waste any food.  A couple of years ago she bought some horrible cheap frozen fish, the smell of that was unbearable and apparently it didn't taste at all nice either, I'm sure it was off before it was frozen tbh....but she still finished off the rest of the packet rather than bin it!   Thing is, it's not even like she can't afford it nowadays, I think that mindset has just been retained since the war!

12 minutes ago, Gizza11 said:

If it smells a bit ripe it's bad, joking apart I will only eat cooked meat on the day its cooked  EG.I woun't  eat chicken wings at a party buffet or anything cooked left overnight unless its unopened from the shop in the fridge . As I had Salmonella poising when I was younger still very wary now

I wouldn't eat anything from a party buffet anyway...other people breathing and coughing over it then picking through it with their dirty hands...eurgh!

(I don't get invited to parties funnily enough  )

[WES180]

7 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

I wouldn't eat anything from a party buffet anyway...other people breathing and coughing over it then picking through it with their dirty hands...eurgh!

Now you mention it, buffets do seem to have a slight tang to everything, almost urine like!

I will only eat them at family events, family pi55 fingers are just about acceptable!

[GMX]

24 minutes ago, WES180 said:

Now you mention it, buffets do seem to have a slight tang to everything, almost urine like!

I will only eat them at family events, family pi55 fingers are just about acceptable!

That's worth remembering, corporate hospitality usually has free buffets with free drinks, as they try court and woo you to supply them, or them supply to you.

Some years ago, I was put off communal punch (for life) at one such gathering, when someone with a rather wet phlegmy cough had a bout of coughing far too near the event punch bowl - you could see the droplets blast forth out

[dezwez]

5 minutes ago, GMX said:

That's worth remembering, corporate hospitality usually has free buffets with free drinks, as they try court and woo you to supply them, or them supply to you.

Some years ago, I was put off communal punch (for life) at one such gathering, when someone with a rather wet phlegmy cough had a bout of coughing far too near the event punch bowl - you could see the droplets blast forth out

OMG

[jmurray01]

12 minutes ago, GMX said:

That's worth remembering, corporate hospitality usually has free buffets with free drinks, as they try court and woo you to supply them, or them supply to you.

Some years ago, I was put off communal punch (for life) at one such gathering, when someone with a rather wet phlegmy cough had a bout of coughing far too near the event punch bowl - you could see the droplets blast forth out

I think I'll stick to a bottle of Scotch!!

[dezwez]

1 minute ago, jmurray01 said:

I think I'll stick to a bottle of Scotch!!

Don't blame you Insert other media

[Stoney871]

Never eat bar snacks.
Amounr of people who don't wash their hands then dive into the peanuts is mind boggling (not to mention stomach churning).

Sent from my SM-G930F

[dezwez]

5 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

Never eat bar snacks.
Amounr of people who don't wash their hands then dive into the peanuts is mind boggling (not to mention stomach churning).

Sent from my SM-G930F
 

doesn't bear thinking  about or maybe it does 

[jmurray01]

23 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

Never eat bar snacks.
Amounr of people who don't wash their hands then dive into the peanuts is mind boggling (not to mention stomach churning).

Sent from my SM-G930F
 

Agreed!

[jmurray01]

23 minutes ago, Stoney871 said:

Never eat bar snacks.
Amounr of people who don't wash their hands then dive into the peanuts is mind boggling (not to mention stomach churning).

Sent from my SM-G930F
 

Agreed!