Will *I* need to be cured?

December 23, 2019 7:13 PM

I scoff at most best before dates. And I'm prepared to scoff at these, but want some mefi reassurance. I have some Hickory Farms summer sausage and a chorizo, both vac packed, but years beyond their BB dates. Nom nom, or not nom nom?
posted by kate4914 to Food & Drink (22 answers total)

Ew, no!
posted by nouvelle-personne at 7:14 PM on December 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

Meat + several years expired = nope, sorry. And I'm usually the person calling people wimps in these threads.
posted by showbiz_liz at 7:19 PM on December 23, 2019 [10 favorites]

If it's frozen it's fine.
posted by bbqturtle at 7:20 PM on December 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

No. The answer these questions, unless you're literally starving, is almost always no. And we're not talking about Kobe beef here. We're talking about sausage that was bought at a kiosk in a mall. Throw it the hell out.
posted by jonathanhughes at 7:31 PM on December 23, 2019 [22 favorites]

I opened a 5-6-month-old summer sausage a couple weeks ago, and while it didn't smell bad (not all pathogens smell!!!), it was pale and very rubbery in the center.

You can open them in the spirit of science, but I would not eat them.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:33 PM on December 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

No - buy some new meats.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:33 PM on December 23, 2019

Best answer: Well FWIW the USDA says a dry sausage like your summer sausage will keep “indefinitely” in the fridge. In case you’re interested in science and evidence-based public health policy.

Haters gonna hate but I would eat that refrigerated sausage that the USDA says is fine, knowing that they are super conservative.

The chorizo is more of an unknown, is it also of a dry/hard type? There’s a few different kinds but the page I linked is pretty clear on what it applies to.
posted by SaltySalticid at 7:35 PM on December 23, 2019 [14 favorites]

Best answer: This is a lottery where the maximum possible winnings are that you didn't have to spend like $5 for a new chorizo. I don't know you from Adam's housecat, but I'm very confident that you deserve a new chorizo.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:36 PM on December 23, 2019 [55 favorites]

Were they frozen, or just lost in the refrigerator? Or...not refrigerated at all?

—if frozen, before the best by date until now, then sure, eat them.

—if not frozen but refrigerated, then throw them out. (Although the point of sausage is food preservation...)

—if not refrigerated, definitely throw them out!
posted by leahwrenn at 7:36 PM on December 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

If frozen. Yes but the texture will be weird. Anything else please throw it out. While Metwurst isn't exactly the same thing as either product, I'm from Adelaide South Australia & we still remember the incidents of food poisoning that swept the population over 20 years ago killing a child & leading to permanent organ damage to others. Since then I'm always over cautious on any meat product that is ground up.
posted by wwax at 7:52 PM on December 23, 2019

Sorry but if you were my friend and you asked me this question I would never eat anything you cooked for me again.
posted by STFUDonnie at 8:25 PM on December 23, 2019 [12 favorites]

Summer sausage is not dry sausage.

Also, hell no.
posted by ourobouros at 8:35 PM on December 23, 2019 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: jonathanhughes, you must be new to metafilter; in my experience the answer is usually "hell, yeah!" Although I marked SaltySalticid as best answer, I'm going to chicken out and chuck them out. Thanks, fellow mefites, and happy, healthy holidays!
posted by kate4914 at 8:42 PM on December 23, 2019 [9 favorites]

Haha. I should've said that the correct answer is almost always "no".
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:45 PM on December 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

Did you read the link in the favorited comment carefully? From the table at the bottom:

Summer Sausage (Semi-dry) | 3 months | 3 weeks | 1 to 2 months
posted by STFUDonnie at 8:53 PM on December 23, 2019 [5 favorites]

Response by poster: I was wondering if cured+vac packed+refrigerated = safe, but you folk are right about the cost/benefit analysis.
posted by kate4914 at 9:12 PM on December 23, 2019 [2 favorites]

if it doesn't say it expires, it doesn't expire. it's like a twinkie.

it may not however be something you will enjoy.
posted by zippy at 9:38 PM on December 23, 2019 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I wouldn’t eat it but my bet is that it would be safe. Not good, but unlikely to kill you. But like I said, no way in hell would I eat that. As was pointed out, the cost benefit ratio does not pan out on this one.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:12 PM on December 23, 2019

What does not kill you sometimes makes you vomit from both ends. Glad you're tossing it.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 10:27 PM on December 23, 2019 [8 favorites]

Remember we buy these things for the enjoyment (flavour, etc), not the life expectancy.

(Of the product, I mean, not our own life expectancy!)
posted by macdara at 1:34 AM on December 24, 2019 [4 favorites]

Best answer: In case anyone cares in the future I did more research and it seems some summer sausage is considered dry and some semi-dry. Likewise some chorizo is dry and some is not. Also different sources may categorize the same sausage differently. Some info on sausage classification here.
Wikipedia considers summer sausages and Spanish chorizo to be dry, but nobody should use WP for issues of food safety.
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:08 AM on December 24, 2019 [3 favorites]

I once got really sick because I worked on the assumption that my refrigerator had been supplied with constant power and had functioned properly at all times.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:32 AM on December 24, 2019 [2 favorites]