Date discounting of perishable foods is a growing trend among retailers to decrease waste. It also appeals to consumers trying to manage their food dollars during these inflationary times. But consumers may question if the product is still safe to eat. Will it last one more day in the home refrigerator? Can it be frozen and used at a later date? The answer is yes, but few know this.

All dating of food is strictly a nod to the product’s quality and freshness. It is never an indicator of safety. Beyond the date, quality may decline but the product may still be consumed. To extend that date, ingredient technologies may assist.

Understanding shelf-life dating

There’s not a one-date-fits-all approach to labeling meat and poultry. One company’s ground turkey may have a much shorter “shelf life” than another that includes an antioxidant in the blend. But there are multiple steps that can be taken to improve shelf life.

“To help to extend the shelf life of meat and poultry products, various strategies can be employed, from proper storage and appropriate packaging materials to natural food additives and advanced processing methods,” said Ron Ratz, senior vice president, Wixon, St. Francis, Wis. “By understanding the issues and implementing effective strategies, the shelf life of meat and poultry products can be significantly extended, while assisting to ensure product quality.”

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) both recommend that the food industry use the terms “Best if used by” on packaging to provide an indication of the product’s quality. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) states that such a date is voluntary for meat and poultry processors and may be provided in a manner that is truthful and not misleading. To comply, a calendar date must express both the month and day of the month. In the case of shelf-stable and frozen products, the year must also be displayed. Dating foods, with the exception of infant formula, is not required by federal law. Still, most processors include a date. Because federal regulations do not prevent the industry from using other dating lingo, such as “sell by” or “use by,” there’s a lot of confusion among retailers and the consumers.

The two federal agencies that oversee the food industry decided in late 2024 that the time is now to gain a better understanding of these food label dates. The agencies are seeking more information on industry practices and preferences for date labeling, research on consumer perceptions of date labeling and whether date labels impact food waste and grocery costs.

“It has been estimated that confusion over the multitude of different date labeling terms on food products accounts for about 20% of food waste in the home,” said Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods at FDA. “The FDA is committed to doing all that we can to support informed and sound decisions that are good for US consumers.”

The information collected may be used for future policy decisions, guidance or consumer education campaigns on food date labels and to help reduce the premature discard of wholesome and safe food. The USDA estimates that the average family of four spends at least $1,500 each year on food that ends up uneaten. If meat and poultry quality is extended, it may be possible to eat more before tossing.

Freezer burn causes dry, tough areas that degrade the overall quality of a meat or poultry product. (Source: ©BROOKE BECKER - STOCK.ADOBE.COM)

Technologies to assist

The shelf life of meat and poultry — fresh, frozen and fully cooked — can be shortened for a number of reasons. This includes quality issues such as lipid oxidation, physical degradation and undesirable color changes.

Various factors are used to determine label dates, according to USDA. This includes the length of time and temperature at which a food is held during distribution and offered for sale. Factors influencing label dates also include a number of attributes of the food, such as form, composition and packaging.

The quality of perishable products may deteriorate after the date passes; however, such products should still be safe to eat if handled properly, according to USDA. The agency states that consumers must evaluate the quality of the product prior to its consumption to determine if the product shows signs of spoilage.

“Our industry produces a remarkable array of animal foods for which spoilage factors will vary,” said Rob Ames, director of business development, Corbion, Lenexa, Kan. “In fresh red meats, color is the limiter, followed quickly by microbial spoilage and sometimes oxidation. In cooked meats, bacterial spoilage is most likely to limit days of utility. Molds can be problematic in dried, breaded or frozen meats. With poultry, I think more about rancidity and the use of antioxidants.”

Spoilage, of course, is a contributing factor to the overall shelf life of meat and poultry. Spoilage and safety are not to be confused with quality. Ground turkey, for example, is prone to oxidation. Products past any label date may have an undesirable rancid odor and taste. It still is likely safe to eat, once properly and thoroughly cooked. It may be spared from being food waste when used to make a spicy chili, where the seasonings, tomatoes and beans mask any off notes. On the other hand, deli-style sliced turkey with a slimy layer should get tossed in the trash.

“Spoiled foods will develop an off odor, flavor or texture due to naturally occurring spoilage bacteria,” according to USDA. “A change in the color of meat or poultry is not an indicator of spoilage.”

Ingredients to ensure quality

The big three sensorial forms of quality degradation of meat and poultry products are lipid oxidation, physical degradation and undesirable color changes caused by myoglobin oxidation.

Physical degradation is a function of managing moisture. This is especially challenging with frozen products, where exposure to air during freezing can lead to moisture loss and freezer burn. This affects texture and flavor.

“Protein denaturation occurs during the freezing and thawing processes, leading to changes in texture and a loss of juiciness,” said Darwin Ortiz Osorio, senior scientist of food protection, North America, IFF, New Century, Kan. “Freezer burn, caused by the sublimation of ice from the surface of the meat, results in dry, tough areas that degrade the overall quality of the product.”

Managing moisture is all about locking in natural juices, which include water and fat. It also involves adding moisture to help with flavor and texture.

There are two forms of oxidation that impact quality. One impacts odor and taste. The other is about color.

“The oxidation of myoglobin, the protein responsible for the red color in meat, leads to browning,” said Ortiz Osorio. “Although this browning is often mistaken for spoilage, the meat may still be safe to consume. However, consumers typically associate brown meat with being old or unsafe, which can lead to reduced sales and increased waste.”

While myoglobin is the protein responsible for color change in meat, pro-oxidants, such as temperature, metals and light, may exacerbate the situation. Antioxidants introduced upfront retard the oxidation process.

“All meat is susceptible to color change due to oxidation,” said Courtney Schwartz, marketing director, Kemin Food Technologies, Des Moines, Iowa. “From the moment the meat leaves the processing facility, oxidation begins. During this reaction, volatile compounds begin to form. They begin to react with the meat, causing the process to start all over again. Eventually, this causes color change in the meat as well as off-flavors and off-odors.

“To put it simply, consumers expect fresh beef to be bright red, cured meat to be light pink and ground poultry to be light or dark pink,” said Schwartz. “Any variation from these colors deters the consumer from buying the product. Therefore, it is imperative for manufacturers to prevent color loss in their meat and poultry products in order to keep consumers coming back for more.”

The other oxidation process occurs with the fats and oils inherently present in the meat and poultry, as well as in other components of the products, such as breading and marinades. Oxidation of fat is more prevalent in cooked meats, as heat initiates the breakdown of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) present in such products. These fatty acids are highly susceptible to oxidation, which produces unwanted flavor changes in the final product. This includes the production of warmed-over flavor (WOF), which are odors and flavors commonly described as stale, cardboard-like or rancid. WOF has long been recognized as one of the primary causes of quality deterioration in cooked, refrigerated and pre-cooked frozen meat products.

The most common solution is the addition of antioxidants, which protect PUFA from oxidation by sacrificing themselves to the oxidation process. Artificial preservatives such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) function as antioxidants and have long been the standard to ensure an economically sensible shelf-life for fully cooked and packaged meat products.

Use of these ingredients is going away as processors replace them with more label-friendly options, such as tocopherols, a class of vitamin E with powerful antioxidative properties. Tocopherols have long been used as a natural shelf-life extender in many products and have application in raw meat. Inclusion can be cleanly identified on ingredient statements as vitamin E or mixed tocopherols, usually with a parenthetical explanation of being added to maintain freshness, so as not to be confused with inclusion for fortification or nutrition profile enhancement.

“Oxidation and WOF can be a common issue, particularly in precooked and frozen meats, where flavor degradation becomes evident during reheating or extended storage,” Ratz said. “Wixon offers a host of proprietary solutions that retard the impact of lipid oxidation. These antioxidant solutions can be customized for the specific meat and processing applications.

“With an average usage of 0.15% in finished product, many manufacturers find value in Wixon integrating shelf life extension solutions (natural antioxidants) directly into their flavor systems, creating a custom, streamlined, cost-effective approach.”

Many such natural antioxidants are plant-based extracts. Rosemary and green tea extracts, for example, may assist with conserving the appearance, taste and quality of raw and cooked meat products, both refrigerated and frozen. Carefully selected plant breeds enable production of the most potent extracts. Suppliers blend the extracts into the most effective combination for a specific application and desired shelf-life.

At the molecular level, rosemary extract and green tea extract have similar functionality. Both contain phenolic compounds that function as antioxidants, preventing oxidative breakdown of meat pigments by being oxidized themselves. Their active components exhibit chain-breaking antioxidant activity. The main difference is that green tea extract has a lower negative flavor contribution to the final product. Thus, using a lower level of rosemary extract in combination with green tea extract allows the manufacturer to increase the natural plant extract usage rate, often resulting in an extract blend that performs better than using rosemary alone.

There are fruit-based extracts that exert antioxidative function in meat and poultry. Acerola extract (cherry powder), for example, boasts high levels of antioxidant vitamin C. Select plum ingredients contain antioxidants along with concentrated levels of organic acids that have been shown to assist with reducing WOF.

“Corbion has a line of nature-based antioxidants comprised of rosemary and acerola cherry solutions that inhibit the reactions that can lead to rancid odor and taste,” said Ames. “If it’s pathogens or spoilage bacteria, our antimicrobial products like our vinegars, lactic acid derivatives and ferments can extend the lag phase and stall microbial replication. For molds, we do much the same. The result of this is a predictable delay in spoilage.”

One of IFF’s partners faced significant product returns and waste due to a limited shelf life of five to seven days for their meat products. By using one of the solutions from the company’s plant extract range, quality was extended to more than 15 days.

“This allowed the product to remain on supermarket shelves for an additional weekend, reducing product waste by an impressive 85%,” said Ortiz Osorio. “This not only saved millions on lost inventory but also ensured that more of their products reached consumers’ kitchens, helping them achieve their sustainability goals by reducing environmental impact.”