Lidl - rotting meat!!

Pennylane

hollydays wrote: »

Does air getting in make it go off? I thought cling film just kept it from going dry,rather than stopped it going off.

Just in case anybody gets food poisoning after reading this and also Tim's reply ...........
Supermarket meat is vacuum packed - it's NOT covered in "cling film" as we use in the kitchen. It is called "wet aged" meat. When it's exposed to air it goes off very quickly, which is why if there are any holes in the packaging (as I said earlier) you need to be careful. Air WILL have got in and it WILL be going off. You will smell it immediately you open the packet properly.

My local butcher has explained all this to me - he sells dry-aged meat (as do some supermarkets) which he then puts in a polythene bag for you to take home. He does vacuum pack some of his local bacon to sell in his grocery shop when the butchers is closed. Obviously it has a much longer shelf life than his "fresh" bacon which he sells over the counter.

The comment about a chilled temperature for storing meat is correct.

withabix

Only SOME supermarket meat is vacuum packed. That's normally the shrink wrapped stuff without a plastic tray.

Some is packaged in a protective atmosphere - carbon dioxide normally. All meat packaged in this way will say so on the packaging.

Any meat you buy in a plastic tray is usually just in normal air, unless the plastic covering is 'sucked in' onto the meat.

Lidls' problem is most likely to be from the shop's own storage and handling not being kept cold enough.

uktim29

withabix wrote: »

Lidls' problem is most likely to be from the shop's own storage and handling not being kept cold enough.

It could be just as likely to be a supplier problem.

Pennylane wrote: »

Just in case anybody gets food poisoning after reading this and also Tim's reply ...........

Ugh?

My reply said the best thing to do is chill the meat. Why would that cause food poisoning?

zorber

withabix wrote: »

Lidls' problem is most likely to be from the shop's own storage and handling not being kept cold enough.

When i worked in the store in question if we were too busy on the checkouts or staff sickness chilled delivery often got left out to get warm.
from what i hear now they have switched off their backup chillers to save money, so the delivery needs to get worked straight away as they have no facility to keep it cool now. (dont quote me on this but that is how i understood the started opperating a couple of years ago)

angel

I've had a chicken from Lidl in exactly the same condition as the op. Green and stinking with five days left on the label. I've never bought meat from there since.