This may sound gross to some readers but it is an improtant question.
How many days after butchering a turkey can I keep it in the
refrigerator before cooking?

Does anyone know how many days a grocery store is allowed, by law, to
keep a fresh bird?

Finally, where on the USDA site can I find this type of information?

Thanks.

higgledy wrote:
>
> This may sound gross to some readers but it is an improtant question.
> How many days after butchering a turkey can I keep it in the
> refrigerator before cooking?
>
> Does anyone know how many days a grocery store is allowed, by law, to
> keep a fresh bird?
>
> Finally, where on the USDA site can I find this type of information?


The Hormel site and the USDA and Canadian Food Inspection Agency
all recommend only keeping them in the fridge for 1-2 days.

> The Hormel site and the USDA and Canadian Food Inspection Agency
> all recommend only keeping them in the fridge for 1-2 days.

They recommend 1-2 days beyond the sell-by date. A store cannot sell
after the sell-by date.

I bought a fresh turkey this past Saturday. I asked the butcher if he
will be slaughtering turkeys this week, I would pick up one of those on
Tuesday or Wednesday. The butcher told me that he was already finished
slaughtering for Thanksgiving and that my turkey will hold till
Thursday.

He told me that grocery stores hold there fresh birds for nearly 2
weeks! He was well within the USDA rules, so he claimed.

Does this sound correct?

higgledy wrote:
> This may sound gross to some readers but it is an improtant question.
> How many days after butchering a turkey can I keep it in the
> refrigerator before cooking?
>
> Does anyone know how many days a grocery store is allowed, by law, to
> keep a fresh bird?
>
> Finally, where on the USDA site can I find this type of information?
>
> Thanks.

It is relevant as many marinate the turkey for a few days. I will get
it from a farmer tuesday and it will be under wine, salt and spices for
two days.

simy1 wrote:

> It is relevant as many marinate the turkey for a few days.

Do you mean "brine", instead of marinate?

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

Dave Bugg wrote:
> simy1 wrote:
>
> > It is relevant as many marinate the turkey for a few days.
>
> Do you mean "brine", instead of marinate?
>
> --
> Dave
> www.davebbq.com

Yes.

simy1 wrote:

> Dave Bugg wrote:
>> simy1 wrote:
>>
>>> It is relevant as many marinate the turkey for a few days.
>>
>> Do you mean "brine", instead of marinate?
>
> Yes.

You really don't need to keep the bird in brine for longer than 12-20 hours.
Once brined, you can stick the bird into the fridge until Thursday morning.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

Dave Bugg wrote:
>
> You really don't need to keep the bird in brine for longer than 12-20 hours.
> Once brined, you can stick the bird into the fridge until Thursday morning.
>
> --
> Dave
> www.davebbq.com

Thanks. I will do as you say this year. I just found a way to infuse
the meat well, and I kept on doing it over the years.

> It is relevant as many marinate the turkey for a few days. I will get
> it from a farmer tuesday and it will be under wine, salt and spices for
> two days.

Do you buy a live turkey from the farmer? Because it is illegal to
process a turkey on the farm, it must be processed offsite.

"higgledy" > wrote

> Does anyone know how many days a grocery store is allowed, by law, to
> keep a fresh bird?

I can't really help you except to say that the definition of fresh
varies. Fresh in the store could be right at freezing.

nancy

Nancy Young > wrote:

>"higgledy" > wrote

>> Does anyone know how many days a grocery store is allowed, by law, to
>> keep a fresh bird?

>I can't really help you except to say that the definition of fresh
>varies. Fresh in the store could be right at freezing.

I would definitely ask whoever sold you the turkey. We
picked up our Mary's Heritage turkey today, and and the
butcher said we're good until definitely Saturday if we
want to go without roasing it that long.

It also was "soft-frozen" at about 29 degrees -- it had never
been hard-frozen. I have no idea what the advantages of that are,
but it seems popular these days.

Steve