On Wednesday, December 27, 2017 at 8:58:05 PM UTC-5, wrote:
> On Wed, 27 Dec 2017 20:09:28 -0500, wrote:
>
> >How long is a beef roast good for in the refrigerator? If I was to buy a beef
> >roast, not sure what kind yet, on Thursday and put it in the fridge, would it
> >still be good on Sunday, three days later? Thanks.
> >
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> Thanks Terry. And you bring up a point I've often wondered about. I'm very
> finicky about how old cold cuts are in m y fridge. I usually wont eat them after
> two or three days. But the I was wondering, how do I know how long they've been
> hanging ot in the grocery store cooler before they were sliced. Does staying in
> one big hunk preserve their shelf life better than being sliced? Or is it just a
> matter of how fast they go through the meats? I can see things like ham, blogna
> and roast beef being used quickly, but I often buy things that aren't
> necessarily sold as much, like cappicola and liverwurst. How do I know if that
> meat it good when they cut it?

Surface area and cross-contamination.

A solid hunk of meat will be less apt to spoil than something that's
been sliced, exposing more of its surface to bacteria. The slicer
blade might not be cleaned frequently enough (even if they follow
the health department's rules) to prevent bacterial growth.

Refrigeration slows bacterial growth, but does not necessarily kill
bacteria.

Cindy Hamilton