Pork for dry cured sausages - how fresh is fresh?

[reddal]

Hi,

Something I've never been able to get a clear answer on is how fresh does pork need to be in order to make dry cured sausages?

I've been told 'the fresher the better' - but does anyone have any info on how much impact a few extra days hanging in the cold room at the abattoir really has on pork?

i.e. in the ideal situation:

• Day 1: pig is slaughtered and carcass cooled by abattoir
  Day 2: carcass is butchered and the meat put into cure mix and stored in fridge
  Day 3: the sausages are made and start fermenting

That's the freshest I can do, but sometimes there is an extra day or two between slaughter and being butchered. Does anyone know what impact that has on the bacteria counts in the pork? What if there were 6 days delay?

Some people say its fine to hang the carcass for a long time - even weeks - but that sounds dangerous to me. Where do you draw the line in terms of pork freshness if you want to make a dry cured product that is completely safe with maximum shelf life?

thanks - reddal

[Bob K]

Reddal-
The quality of pork has more to do with Ph of post rigor meat. Which I believe is the reason that pork is not aged like beef.
Very little bacterial growth in an uncut carcass stored at proper temps.

WE have some meat guys on this forum that can add much more.....

[reddal]

Very little bacterial growth in an uncut carcass stored at proper temps.

The key question is how much is very little, and how long before it becomes not so little?

Anyone know how much bacterial growth there is likely to be in an uncut pig carcass stored at proper temperature? After how long would it be a problem to make charcuterie from it?

[Bob K]

There is really no specific, special criteria/ regulation for meat safety regarding bacterial contamination for meat to be made into dried products. It would be the same as any meat that is deemed safe to be consumed.

[Knifeman]

Reddal-
The quality of pork has more to do with Ph of post rigor meat. Which I believe is the reason that pork is not aged like beef.
Very little bacterial growth in an uncut carcass stored at proper temps.

WE have some meat guys on this forum that can add much more.....

Hmmmm... I have worked with pork / slaughtering and cutting for many years but never worked with pork that was aged . Yes they do cryovac pork to extend shelf life but I don't think it used as means to age it . As you know a lot of beef is cryovaced for extended shelf life and wet ages in the bags, not nearly as good as dry aged beef IMO .For hogs we would slaughter one day cut the caracsses the next morning. As we had many Asian clients they really prefferd to get their pork right after they were processed on the slaughter floor . I have heard stories about the Brits aging pork , but not familiar with it. As others have mentioned cooler holding temperatures and humidity would play a big factor.
knifeman

[Kijek]

The key question is how much is very little

I can only add this, from when I went to culinary school.
Meat in it's self is sterile, it is not until you cut the meat that it becomes non-sterile along the cut.

Very little bacterial growth in an uncut carcass stored at proper temps.

The key word here is "uncut", and that carries through from day one till that last day of butchering into saleable cuts.
Every bit of meat is sterile, except along the "CUT".