I just unwrapped a present that has been sitting under our Xmas tree for 5 days. It includes some Spanish cheese, some sort of sausage and a package of prosciutto. The two meats say “keep refrigerated” on their labels.
5 days. Safe to consume?
Which cheese? Which sausage? This matters. The prosciutto is probably fine.
Cheese: Iberico (unfamiliar to me)
Sausage: French salami (already sliced)
The Iberico is probably a hard cheese (manchego). People hike for several days with unrefrigetated hard cheese in their packs. If the sausage is hard and dry, it’s probably okay. Were they packed with cold packs?
No cold packs.
This is not to be construed as specific medical/dietary advice, but salami has a reputation for relative indestructibility.
"Salami is just the most durable thing ever. I mean, you can hang and leave it for years and it’ll be okay. But you probably don’t want to do that.”
Yeah, I’m no cheese ‘n’ meat expert, but I’d refrigerate them now and eat them (soonish). I carried hard cheese and salt-cured meat in a backpack. On the Camino for 5 days with no fridge and temperatures in the 90s and 100s and ate them with no problematic effects. As a young thing, I ate sausages while hiking in France in the summer. This is not to be construed as formal snack advice.
As a general rule, hard cheeses such as cheddar, processed cheeses (American), and both block and grated Parmesan do not require refrigeration for safety, but they will last longer if kept refrigerated.
https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Does-all-cheese-need-to-be-refrigerated
Hard or dry sausage (such as pepperoni and Genoa salami), whole and unopened, can be stored … for up to six weeks in the pantry. After opening, refrigerate for 3 weeks.
https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/What-are-storage-times-for-sausages
Dry-cured hams are shelf stable. These uncooked hams are safe when stored at room temperature because they contain so little water that bacteria can’t multiply in them. In dry curing - the process used to make country hams and prosciutto, fresh meat is rubbed with a dry-cure mixture of salt and other ingredients.
https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Are-dry-cured-hams-shelf-stable
Great info. Thanks a bunch!
Good luck! I’ve learned to ship cold pack items from IGourmet and La Tienda during temperate weather and with confirmation that the recipient will be home to receive them for a range of several days. The non-cold-pack stuff and hard cheese/salami/cured meats I don’t much worry about. I lived a lot of years in Providence where the rafters of the Italian and Portuguese markets were festooned with various preserved meats.
Rule of thumb: “When in doubt, throw it out.” If unsure of the chain of custody, or equivalent handling and temperature control of perishable food products, I would be conservative in my approach to consuming it. Ask yourself, would you serve it to guests?
It’s probably OK, but why chance it?
The foods described do not sound very perishable, though. IME they are fine, but eat them; don’t leave them in the sun for 6 months and then eat them.
Because it’s probably tasty and filling, and it seems wasteful to throw it away.
I would follow the hunter-gatherer principle: try a small amount. If that doesn’t make you sick, try some more. If that doesn’t make you sick, it is probably OK.
How else did people discover that Amanita caesarea mushrooms are edible, but Amantita phalloides
will kill you, and Amanita muscaria will not kill you but you will hallucinate quite a bit?
These foods were developed in a time before refrigeration with the purpose of preserving the food for consumption anything up to a season away, or for when travelling. History suggests they will be fine to eat.
You are equipped with highly specialized, super sensitive senses with the ability to tell you if any kind of food has gone bad in seconds.
Unless you have some kind of medical condition impairing you sense of smell or compromising your ability to see I wouldn’t worry about it.
If they’re in vacuum packing, they’re probably fine (IANAD). Were the presents under a tree? They may have remained relatively cool on or near the floor. I’d eat a little, store them in the fridge and eat more the next day if all seems okay (as suggested by @scudsucker). But be aware that listeriosis, which may be a concern, can set in many days later. So, if you give them a test run, as long as you’re erring, do it on the side of caution and make sure they aren’t eaten by “pregnant women, newborns, adults with weakened immune systems or the elderly” (quoting online sources).
Not necesarily. Botulism, for example, is caused by the toxins of bacteria that don’t always produce bad smells or other noticeable signs. Again, IANAD.
well going by the mail order meat and cheese place “the swiss colony” says they’ll keep for a month but if you live in a cooler place or have a cold storage place they’ll keep longer than that but here’s a thing on how to store sausage
https://www.swisscolony.com/blog/snacks-101/summer-sausage-a-wisconsin-tradition#:~:text=We%20recommend%20keeping%20it%20up%20to%20a%20month%2C,keep%20it%20freshest%20and%20maintain%20the%20moisture%20level.
And all those people are dead!
Yeah. I know it can be uncomfortable tossing perfectly good-looking food in unopened packages, but unless the OP is in a hunger situation where this stuff is the only food they may have for the forseeable future, probably better to err on the side of caution. I do agree the meat is likely preserved, but unrefrigerated cheese? Risk/reward, and all that.