The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Sudanpan on February 06, 2016, 07:05:02 pm
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I have the salami dry cure salt mix from Weschenfelder - however they send them out in 1kg bags and you only need 28g/kg meat so I have loads left. The cure says it has an expiration date of Aug 2015 - but if its just salts (normal salt plus appropriate ration of nitrite/nitrates) what is there to go 'off'?
I have asked the question of Weschenfelder but wondered if anyone on here knows if they would be ok to use?
Thanks
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Expiry dates are a legal label requirement and for something like this has no relationship to any deterioration. I am an analytical chemist and used to set dates for products based on shelf life testing but for something as stable as this it is usual just to go for 3 or 5 years, really to allow for poor packaging, contamination if it is opened many times. So as long as you have kept it well packaged should be ok for some time.
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But that of course is for your own use. If you are selling any products then I suspect you will fall foul of some food standards legislation if you use out of date salts whatever the chemistry.