Vacuum sealing sausage

[Denis]

Hey guys,
One thing I don’t know nothing about is vacuum sealing, we had one in the last store that I worked in before I build my shop years ago. We used it only to wrap ham pieces and ham steaks and that’s It; had never worked with one before or after. I do have a food saver at home. My pepperoni sticks, pepperoni, polish sausage, etc. are in trays in my deli case. A couple of weeks ago, I decided to try putting 6 pepperoni sticks in vacuum sealed bags to see if there was an interest. Well wouldn’t you know it, the meat inspector came in and told me that if I put a product in a vacuum sealed bag, I had to put an expiring date on the package for not more than a week. If I wanted to put a date longer than 7 days, I had to submit my process to an approved lab with a sample and the lab would tell me the shelf life of my product. I called one of the labs on the list that the inspector gave me and they wanted $1,500 for the job.
Nobody wants to poison his customers and I really don’t know anything about vacuum packing so I wasn’t going to keep the packages for more than 2 weeks anyway but this really made me think. If the shelf life of a vacuum sealed product is only 2 weeks, it’s not worth it to pay $1500 to get my process approved, I’ll just make smaller batches like I am doing now; but on the other hand if the lab tells me that I can keep them for a month that’s another story.

Any thoughts on this?

PS. I know all about botulism and anaerobic bacteria.

[Richtee]

Hmmm... well, as this is a commercial venture... nothing I say should be construed as accurate

The sausage is cured I assume... it would seem to me if you are using Cure 2 style cure that the stuff would be fine. I have packed stick and other sausage and had no issues. Same with jerky.

BUT... you are under the laws... sooo....
Hey BBally.... any input?

[Denis]

Hmmm... well, as this is a commercial venture... nothing I say should be construed as accurate

The sausage is cured I assume... it would seem to me if you are using Cure 2 style cure that the stuff would be fine. I have packed stick and other sausage and had no issues. Same with jerky.

BUT... you are under the laws... sooo....
Hey BBally.... any input?

Yeah, sausage is cured and cooked and my meat counter is set to 34F so you would think that the product would be ok for 14 days wouldn't you?

[Richtee]

Yeah, sausage is cured and cooked and my meat counter is set to 34F so you would think that the product would be ok for 14 days wouldn't you?

I would think. But it don't matter WHAT I think...

[Denis]

[IrishChef]

Its a HACCP thing. With organisms such as Listeria, it is felt that a colony can become virulant/pathogenic after about 9 days. 7 gives some buffer. When you vac pac something, it changes the atmosphere, and can promote the growth of anaerobes like C.Bot etc... With raw meats, there is usually enough competitive organisms where its not a huge issue, except for spoilage, and the product will be further cooked upon purchase. When you bring curing into the mix, you wipe out the competition, allowing the pathogens free reign. While the curing process may have essentially sterilized the product, the packing process can contaminate the product, which would then be sealed off in what could be a perfect medium for growth, in a product which is usually "ready to eat".
The Inspector is basically requiring that you get your vacuum sealing process verified that it doesn't aid in the growth or transmission of pathogenic bacteria to the end user beyond 7 days. What I would suggest you look at is the $1200 fee worth keeping stock on hand beyond 7 days, and is it worth the hassles of developing and implementing a HACCP plan. Once you have an approved plan in place, you must follow it 100%, or risk the wrath of the inspecting authority.

Good Luck!

[minnbill]

But look at Jack Links and all the rest that vacumm seel for years

[Richtee]

But look at Jack Links and all the rest that vacumm seel for years

They are all HACCP certified processes Bill... they paid the big bux. And they prolly have alot more chems involved to ensure saftey.

[IrishChef]

But look at Jack Links and all the rest that vacumm seel for years

They have USDA on site inspection, along with a HACCP plan that has been process approved and verified, in addition to a product that is essentially shelf stable.

[Mark R]

That sounds like a tough sell unless you are dealing with a LOT of product.
Thanks for asking and answering one of my upcoming questions!

[mulepackin]

What is your current shelf life of non vac packed items? Another part of the equation to consider when deciding to shell out the money.

[Denis]

Its a HACCP thing.
Good Luck!

Thanks for the info, I did look up the HACCP thing. It made me understand where the inspector was comming from. I guess its up to me to do a cost/benefit analisis to see if it's worth the time and energy (money) to get involved in in this other aspect of meat processing that right now I know nothing about.

Again thank you very much

[butcher]

I could'nt comment as the FDA and CFIA laws are different, it also depends (here in canada) if you are clasified as local, provincial or federal.. and only federal inspected plants ever need to go under the HACCP laws (which are a global implimented plan) Personally my self.. If you were only selling local, then I would stick to not going through the whole route of getting HACCP implimentation, it comes with higher costs... you will find your self buying much more equipment and having many more visits by the food police. keep it simple for local sales or go BIG for national / global sales and be prepared to have to spend lots of money. I was the HACCP co-ordinator at the federally inspected plant that I worked at, and everything from knife styrolizers to metal dectors had to be brought in just my opinion

[IrishChef]

Denis, I may have a partial solution for your issue. I have been out of the inspection side of the industry for a few years, but, I believe if you set a 7 day expiration date, and then freeze the product at that time, you may be able to get by with what you have in place. You need to discuss this with your inspecting authority, and get an approval to proceed, but I think it should be a GO. You may need to come up with some sort of date marking procedure, and process that ensures all product will be frozen at the 7 day mark, but it should be much less hassle free and less restrictive than a HACCP plan. Let me know if you need some more guidance.

[Fishawn]

Interesting stuff & questions here! ..... How is your product received outside of your immediate market? .... There's a local smokehouse/meat shop near me, where I kinda know the owner (fished with him a few times & chat when in his store) that always sold fresh from his smokehouse/retail area & at a couple of local farmers markets in the past.... I talked with him a few years back about how things were going & he said he was in the process of getting USDA (I THINK IT WAS ) approved to do other things like vac pack, ship, sell ootside his store, etc..... He said it was a bit of work & costs, butt now his stuff is available for sale at stores probably 100 miles away from his smokehouse.... Which is prolly no big thing for a BIG company, butt he's on the growing part & has excellent stuff.... Hope he reads this... Lower your prices a bit man!!!