[reddal]

Hi,

We have a small farm which includes some pigs. Until recently we have been selling the meat as whole or half pig - but are now experimenting with making sausages and selling pork joints for retail. This means we have to put sell by dates on the products.

For sausages I think its safe to put a sell by date of 7 days from manufacture (given we are putting the required amount of E233 preservative in them). However does the clock start ticking on this 7 days only on manufacture regardless of when the pig was slaughtered or butchered?

Our butcher seems very relaxed about hanging a pig in their cold storage for a few days after slaughter. Does this affect the sell by date we can put on the sausages we make from that pork?

Same question for pork joints / chops etc (with no preservative). What sell by date should we put on that to sell to the public and how is this affected by the length of time the meat spends at the butchers?

Thanks in advance for any advice - reddal