I bought a few slices (1/4in thick) of ham from a deli. When I got home I cut them into bite size pieces for snacking. Then placed them in a sealed plastic container and in the fridge. A couple days later they are slippery. Taste fine, but the slippery part doesn’t present itself as appetizing. What happened?
I did a search and nothing came up for slippery ham.
Try running a google search for slimy deli meat.
I haven’t looked long enough to get you a definitive answer, but some people seem to think its bacteria that causes it.
Thank you LD. Slimy, although not as palatable, was a better search word. Most sources say to toss it. Bummer!
the slime is moisture and proteins “leaching” out of the meat. it seems to happen mostly to processed (finely chopped and formed) cold cuts like ham or sometimes hot dogs.
If it looks and (more importantly) smells OK, it’s probably safe to eat.
I have rinsed it and eaten it without incident. YMMV, so please do not take this as a recommendation.
Freshly sliced at the deli only a couple of days ago? It’s fine. The saltiness makes moisture squeeze out of the cells, as jz said. Rinsing is a nice precaution, and likely lowers your sodium intake a teeeeeensy tiny bit.
Thank you. I set it out with some cheese to get to room temperature. The slime went away at room temperature. The dog ate it, the cat ate it, and I ate it. We are all doing fine.
Thank you for your replies.
dogs are the best test subject for food safety.
My understanding is that a cat is more reliable.
Actually, not really. Dogs have short and highly acidic digestive systems, designed for safely eating “off” or raw meat, poop and other things that would make us humans quite ill. Dogs are carnivores and opportunistic scavengers.
/pedant.
I would have eaten the ham too. It’s safer to leave meat in the fridge not tightly sealed, but with a little bit of ventilation. That retards both bacteria growth and the slimy thing that happens with some processed meats.
As long as it doesn’t smell, I’d toss it into a frying pan with a little butter and use it to make an omelette or hot ham and cheese sandwich. Yum-O! :o
This.
After the obvious examination for weird discoloration or stuff growing on it, the sniff test is my go-to for determining edibility. Hasn’t failed me yet, so there’s that. I’ve rinse ham slime successfully in the past, and I probably will in the future.
Yeah, me too. Not while pregnant or feeling unwell, though. And if I think leftover or deli meat is just a bit…stale, I’ve also fried it up before eating, and been fine.
Um, you said you chopped it up and then refrigerated it for later. In future, if you do something like that, use sterile technique. As in, don’t touch it with bare hands (seriously), or utensils that have cut other things. That’s a big source of contamination.
Thank you Elemenopy. Looking back there were many ways it could have been contaminated. Now, I will only buy what I will consume in 1-2 days.