I buy Hormel Natural Choice Applewood Smoked Turkey Deli Lunchmeat, 8 oz Resealable Package.
I’ve noticed the sell by date is usually six to eight weeks beyond when I purchase.
The packages are sealed. I wouldn’t say they’re vacuum sealed. The plastic isn’t sucked in hard against the meat.
I’d estimate most of the air in the package is removed.
I’ve always been told that once it’s opened that lunch meat should be consumed within 5 to 7 days. I’m extremely nervous about food poisoning and throw out the meat long before it smells off.
Is it really safe to buy lunch meat and toss it in the fridge for 5 weeks? (assuming its within the sell by date window)
Why does it go bad so quickly after opening and resealing?
This lunch meat is about $5 a package. I’ve always used it within a couple weeks of buying. Then within 5 days of opening the package.
A visit to the ER can cost thousands. I rather throw away $5 and avoid any risk. I have thrown out unopened packages of lunch meat if they’ve been in my fridge several weeks. I don’t trust the sell by date.
Modified atmosphere packaging can keep the O2 out without vacuum sealing, but once you open it it’s bacteria time.
My understanding is that it is not air in the package, instead it is something like an nitrogen/carbon dioxide mixture. Thus there is no oxygen in the package [and bacteria need oxygen to grow]. When you open the package the oxygen and the bacteria rush in and the bacteria start growing.
This is also why bagged greens and other vegetables seem to last forever, until they’re opened. These too are packed in nitrogen.
I remember my mom always stored bacon and lunch meat in the freezer until it was time to open it and use.
That doesn’t seem necessary anymore. It’s too convenient to buy meat fresh from the store. I’m at the grocery every week for the basics like eggs, bread, milk etc.
I recall thinly sliced lunch meat freezer burns quickly. I haven’t tried storing lunch meat in my freezer in many, many years.
I freeze hamburger meat and steaks.
You need to wrap it very well, and not just in plastic wrap or ziplok bags. They should be frozen well-wrapped in coated butcher freezer paper or something similar.
In addition to keeping oxygen out, the packaging will also keep bacteria out. There were probably bacteria in the meat before it was sealed, too, but there are ways of killing them after sealing (could be as simple as heating it (since the meat’s pre-cooked anyway), could be something like radiation).
I appreciate the comments. It’s reassuring to better understand the packaging of lunch meats and why the sell buy date is 4 to 6 weeks beyond our purchase.
Of course, it depends on the grocery. Walmart’s stock turnover is fast. Their lunch meat doesn’t sit in the display case for very long.
Also, it helps that lunch meat is already cooked.
Bacon has a much shorter sell by date. It’s raw pork.
It’ll also depend on how treated the lunch meat is. In general, saltier meats will last longer, and some heavily-salted sausages can be kept pretty much indefinitely at room temperature.
California has recently changed its rules for dates on packaging. Things like “sell by” aren’t allowed anymore, with “use by” as the replacement.
https://www.npr.org/2026/07/05/nx-s1-5879284/a-new-law-in-california-will-clarify-sell-by-dates-to-reduce-food-waste
Huh, I wasn’t aware there were any laws on food-package dates (other than specifically for baby food). Mostly, they’re just there because consumers expect them (and some of them are far more conservative than necessary, because consumers would be distrustful of a more accurate date).
Some of them are more conservative than necessary because they test them before making a claim, and testing “how long does this keep” takes time = money. Most medicines are good for far longer than the date on the label for this reason. (And a few aren’t.) If your olives have a use-by date, that’s how long they tested them. I opened a bottle of olives 2-3 years after it’s listed date, and they were fine.
I’m obviously less nervous about food poisoning than the OP. 
No, bacon is cured and, usually, smoked just like ham.
It’s true that curing and smoking have preservative value, but those meats are still moist enough that pathogen growth will eventually occur. Just less quickly than uncured fresh meat.
(Most meats that are truly room-temperature-stable for extended time periods are thoroughly dried and/or heavily salt-cured… like dry sausages and country-style hams. Retail bacon isn’t that dry or that salty.)
It’s comparable to “city” ham.