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View Full Version : Food safety and the danger zone


scrub puller
07-03-2016, 02:34 AM
Yair . . .

Hello folks I had never heard of the "danger zone" until I started wandering around BBQ forums such as this.

This is obviously a real and important issue and there is often advise sought by members after accidentally leaving open doors on fridges and what all.

I don't understand the implications of home butchering which I have done often in tropical conditions for close on sixty years . . . I certainly won't be altering my ways but would be interested in comments.

Mostly we kill sheep or goats in late afternoon with the ambient maybe twenty five celcius . . . carcase temp around thirty nine or so at slaughter

Carcases hang outside overnight it may get down to twelve or fifteen and I assume they will cool to ambient.

Next morning by the time they are broken down and packed into the freezer or fridge the ambient may be back up to twenty five or so.

Under these conditions the carcases are in the danger zone for fifteen maybe twenty hours and I have never heard of any problems with farm and station slaughtered meat.

Why is it any different in this example to store bought meat (say) left out on a bench?

Cheers.

IamMadMan
07-03-2016, 07:27 AM
When we butcher game carcasses it is also under less than ideal circumstances under USDA guidelines, however we use this meat for ourselves and it does not go out for distribution or is not fed to large groups of people.

I think the difference you ask about is; that a commercial packing plant or butcher has the potential of creating a widespread epidemic of food-borne illnesses. They literally process thousands of pound of meat per shift, sometimes non-stop. Lets face it, their goal is profit and if they can save a penny at your expense, they will. Lastly if you've been to a slaughterhouse, they are not the cleanest of conditions, gutting animal after animal with unskilled labor. When you and I do carcasses at home we tend to use a lot more care than they do because we take the time to make proper cuts so that the bowels and bladders are not breached and contaminate the meat.

smoke ninja
07-03-2016, 07:48 AM
Danger zone is determined by government. Our production farming is not clean. The danger zone are guidelines. According to the guidelines your at risk eating a med rare steak. I think the problem is they are over simplified.

Deer huntering is popular here and just as you stated in the OP a harvest can sit way above the danger zone for hours.

m-fine
07-03-2016, 10:14 AM
The danger zone guidelines are an over simplification based as much on being easy to remember as they are on science. They are also meant for food prep of potentially contaminated meat, not slaughter and butchering of a live animal.

Roguejim
07-03-2016, 10:44 AM
I always wondered about those foreign open air markets, with cuts of meat just sitting out.

Pyrotech
07-03-2016, 10:53 AM
many years ago, I worked in a custom butcher shop, night time clean up. slaughter was done on site, and no meat was offered for sale to the public.

once back at the plant everything, would be skinned, hung and quartered and washed down before going in to the walk in to await processing.

there was one time when the owner was in an accident in 100 degree weather with a gutted, and bled out beef carcass in the back of the truck. when the state trooper asked about the meat spoiling the owner told him as long as it was gutted and bled out it would be fine.