Meat in the Refrigerator: How Long Does It Last?
By Diane Van, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service
On behalf of everyone in government who works to keep your food safe, welcome to the FoodSafety.gov blog!
By way of introduction, I’m the manager of the USDA’s Meat and Poultry Hotline. The Hotline is a toll-free telephone service that is available year round, Monday through Friday, to answer your questions about meat, poultry, and egg products. We receive over 80,000 calls a year from people like you who want to know how to prepare and store these foods safely. We also answer questions online at AskKaren.gov.
As you might imagine, there are some questions that we get on a regular basis. In fact, the most frequently asked question that we hear on the Hotline is:
How long can I keep meat in the refrigerator?
What would we do without our refrigerators! When it comes to appliances that keep our foods safe, the refrigerator may be the most important because it slows down the growth of bacteria that cause food poisoning. At temperatures between 40 and 140 °F, bacteria grows most rapidly. That’s why we call this temperature range “the Danger Zone.”
A refrigerator set to 40 °F or below will protect most foods – but not forever. The cool temperatures slow down bacterial growth but they don’t stop the growth completely. So, it’s important to use food in a timely fashion to help maintain freshness and quality. Over time, even chilled foods will spoil.
Here are some basic guidelines for storing meat in the refrigerator.
- Raw ground meats, all poultry, seafood, and variety meats: Refrigerate 1 to 2 days.
- Raw roasts, steaks, and chops (beef, veal, lamb, and pork): Refrigerate 3 to 5 days.
- Cooked meat, poultry, and seafood: Store in the refrigerator 3 to 4 days.
Because we get so many questions about storing food safely in the refrigerator, we put together this chart, which lists storage times for all sorts of meats and meat products:
Storage Times for the Refrigerator and Freezer
It’s a great resource, and we recommend that you bookmark this page or print it out for future reference.
If you’re looking for more details on refrigeration, from the history of refrigeration to removing odors from refrigerators, check out Refrigeration and Food Safety on USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service Web site.
We look forward to answering your questions and helping you keep food safe. If you have questions or comments about this topic, add a comment here and let us know. And don’t forget that you can always reach the Hotline at 1-888-674-6854 toll-free or online at AskKaren.gov.
Questions and Answers
Posted April 1, 2010
Q. Are retailers supposed follow the guidelines in this blog? What happens if they don't?
A. The guidelines that we provide on FoodSafety.gov are intended for individuals who buy and prepare food for themselves and their families. When it comes to retail stores, restaurants, and other businesses that deal with food, the government is responsible for setting standards, conducting inspections, and enforcing the law when businesses don't comply with the standards. If you'd like more information, take a look at the Inspections & Compliance section of our site.
Q. How does the use of a home vacuum sealer change the time frames in this blog?
A. Our storage guidelines are the same for home vacuum packaged meats and poultry.
Q. The Danger Zone recommended by ServSafe is different from the one you specified here. Why?
A. The ServSafe recommendations are based on the FDA Food Code, which is intended for retail and food service establishments, such as grocery stores, restaurants, and other institutions that serve food. Those guidelines are for trained cooks in these businesses who are using professional cooking equipment. By contrast, our recommendations on FoodSafety.gov are intended for home cooks.
Q. If poultry can be in the refrigerator one day, how do you thaw out a turkey when the label says to leave it in the refrigerator 2-3 days?
A. Once the turkey is fully thawed, it is like a fresh turkey and it can be refrigerated 1-2 additional days. Take a look at our Turkey Thawing Chart to see how long it takes to thaw a turkey in the refrigerator or in cold water.
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hi
Thanks for this really useful advice there is always confusion about how long to store raw meat in our house!
Hi Caroline, I agree with you when you say there's alway confusion about how long to store raw meat in our house...we either throw it away too I myself and others keep it for too long... Brian @ http://www.fashionox.com/
great post
Have a question, what kind of material / foils should be used when keeping food in the refrigerator? I've heard some are bad for health
i dont kmow but i think you shouldnt use foil.
Do be sure your fridge is working properly. If it isn't actually cooling down to below 40 Fahrenheit, that can make your refrigerated food deteriorate a little faster.
Thanks for all of this great information. My husband and I stand over the meat all the time, poking and sniffing, debating it's goodness, lol. Bad meat is just one thing you don't want to mess around with!
i ve printed this article. thanx for sharing with us.
Hi! I just bought some ground beef on monday. But, didn't have any bags to seperate it up until yesterday, thursday the 8th. So I had to put it in my refridgerator. The blood in it looks brown. But, in the middle its pink. The outside of it looks gray. I was wondering if i should throw it away? Because, my boyfriend said that it may not be any good. What do you think?
THROW IT AWAY!!! I have been eating for the past sixty seven years and cooking for fifty five of them. No ones health is worth taking the chance of the meat being bad. Look around at the folks you are planning on feeding with any food item. Place a value on them and then equate this value to the price of the meat you are contemplating on feeding them. I think you will make the right decision after making this little comparison. Good Luck!
When in doubt THROW IT OUT!
This blog is great! I have had many e-mail for food recall alerts and really had me worried. The media has a way of making something out of nothing to boost their ratings ya know! The info in this blog is exactly what the media should be brodcasting to their viewers. I would follow honesty over ratings any day!
what type of pathogenic organisms we can find in the food in refrigrator