How to tell if pork is bad, is a question many individuals seek answers to. However, the indications are more obvious than many people believe.
Pork is one of the most widely consumed meats in the world. Therefore, it’s important to be aware of the signs that tell when pork is bad and whether it is safe to eat or not.
As a result, you must be able to properly watch your meat and recognize the symptoms that show that pork is rotten and should be discarded.
This article explains the telltale warnings that you may have overlooked, how to preserve pork in both ancient and modern ways, and why you should not consume rotting pork.
What is Pork?
Pork is the flesh of a domesticated pig known as Sus scrofa domesticus. It is one of the world’s most popular meats.
Curing is an excellent way to savor and preserve freshly cooked pork while extending its shelf life. Preserved pork includes ham, smoked pork, gammon, bacon, and sausage. Charcuterie is a branch of cooking that focuses on prepared meat items, which are all derived from pigs.
SEE: Does Beef Jerky Go Bad?
How to Tell if Pork Is Bad
Contrary to popular belief, deciding whether your pork has gone bad is not as difficult as you may imagine. To properly watch pork, you must be both vulgar and clever.
As a result, you must ensure that you thoroughly inspect the pork before cooking it. Begin with the package’s sell-by date to ensure you know when it will go bad.
Because pork is known to have worm larvae, it is critical to cook pork to a minimum of 145 degrees Fahrenheit to avoid foodborne disease.
Consequently, you should avoid eating pork with the following traits, especially if it is leftover.
1. Changes in Pork Color
- The existence of yeast is the major cause of such a color shift. Fresh meat should be reddish, according to experts across the world.
- This hue may fade or even darken with time because of faulty storage practices or prolonged storage, showing that the degradation process is still ongoing.
- Pork is pink when fresh, a little deeper than chicken but lighter than beef. Another excellent clue that the meat is bad is when it turns yellowish.
- You’ll also note that it has a drab tint and might appear gray. Even if the interior is still pink, you should chuck it out when you notice any grey or impairing color.
- This also applies to pork loins, chops, and any other pig cuts that come to mind. Fresh pork is usually reddish with a few white threads.
- However, when the flesh spoils, the color changes, going from brownish to greyish, and occasionally greenish. This is a clear sign that you should avoid buying pork in the first place.
2. Signs of Improper Storage
- The manner you store a pork slice might show a lot about its quality. As a result, you should be cautious when buying pork from a merchant, especially if the storage or environment is unprofessional.
- If you enter a grocery store and it has a horde of flies as well as a terrible stench, something is wrong.
- Always pick fresh, well-preserved meat. This is because the meat’s freshness starts to decline after those days, and health may become a concern.
- In many cases, the meat may still taste nice, but you might be surprised to realize that it’s carrying a rapidly growing colony of bacteria that could damage your stomach and make issues worse.
3. Change in Smell
- When you first open the package, you should always do a smell test to detect whether there is anything nasty. If your pork is still edible, there should be little to no odor.
- If there is an odor, it should be fresh and not sour in any way. You must not cook your pork if it smells like arsenic or has an unpleasant or sour odor.
4. Check the Package
- Many people have such a hectic schedule that it is difficult to shop for foods carefully and prudently. As a result, they opt for convenience foods.
- Consequently, if you buy your pork this way, make sure to always check the package for the “best by” or “use by” date on the wrap.
- Also, if the label is on it, be sure the meat hasn’t gone past its suggested sell-by date. Never try to prepare or consume outdated pork since it might be harmful to your health.
5. How It Feels
- Whenever you buy pork and remove it from the packaging, you may discover that it is a little damp. This is quite natural.
- However, if it feels slimy to you, your pork is terrible and will make you sick if you eat it. If it’s dry or mushy, it’s another sign that it’s gone bad.
- Pork, like chicken breast, should be juicy and sturdy to the touch. You’re more likely to get Trichinosis, a foodborne infection if you eat bad pork. Side effects include stomach pains, nausea, diarrhea, fever, and chills.
6. Appearance of Mold
- Mold is a sure sign that your pork has passed its peak. Mold thrives in moist areas, so if you live in one, users should avoid storing pork for a lengthy amount of time before cooking it.
- Some cooks recommend heating or salting the meat to avoid this from occurring. To allow the non-moldy regions to be cooked, don’t try to remove the mold with your hands. This is a poor idea; as soon as the sign shows, throw the meat away.
- Mold tends to run deep throughout the body, and evaluating the extent of its consequences requires more than just looking at it. As a result, the best advice is to stay away from any such meat.
SEE: How to Tell if a Potato Is Bad
How to Tell Pork Is Bad After Freezing
Terrible pork has a dull grey hue, a bad odor, or a sour scent, and it is sloppy or slippery. If you are unsure about any of these, it is preferable to toss them away.
Notwithstanding your best endeavors, food frozen at the proper timing, and using the proper procedures may not be as delicious after a certain period.
1. When it is freezer burnt
Freezer burn is a food killer, and if your pork has dry spots that appear greyish or brown, it’s time to throw it out.
It’s caused by air affecting the meat’s surface. Even if a lot of people say it’s still safe to eat, the quality and flavor will be terrible.
2. Ripped package
If you take a pack of pork out of the freezer and find the wrap torn, it means the frozen meat was charred in the process. You may either cut off the freezer-burned pieces or toss them away if there is too much damage.
3. Stuck in a frozen puddle
It’s advisable to toss out the frozen pork pack if you must dig it out of a freezing puddle. This is because it has begun to thaw, showing that the food’s temperature has been altered, and it may no longer be safe to eat.
4. There’s a change in texture
If your pork had a vivid pinkish hue before freezing and now seems drab and sticky, it will not taste good; therefore, it is not completely safe to consume. As a result, if you don’t want to develop food poisoning, you should avoid eating frozen pork.
SEE: How to Tell if an Onion Is Bad
5. You can’t remember when you froze it
It’s simple to place something in the freezer that’s been lying in the fridge for several days to store it for a day. But it becomes an issue if you do it often and don’t mark the packaging.
If you’re going through your freezer and come upon a frosted container with indistinct contents, trash it since it’ll certainly be rotten, especially if it’s pork.
6. It smells weird
Because the foods have all been held in the same spot for a long period, one downside of chilling is the transmission of odors from one food to the next.
As a result, you may wish to throw the pork, especially if it has already been defrosted.
How Long Can Pork Last?
A slice of fresh, uncooked pork can be stored in the refrigerator for three to five days. Raw ground pork, on the other hand, will keep in the fridge for one or two days. However, cooked pork should be refrigerated for two to three days, after which should be discarded.
How to Preserve Pork
To preserve the pork, put it snugly in the jar or freezer bag and seal it securely with cheesecloth. Also, store the beef at 36°F or lower for a minimum of a month.
Furthermore, you may preserve your pork by using two techniques known as salting and brining.
Salting pork
This time-honored and forgotten method of meat preservation is hardly difficult nor time-consuming.
- Cut the meat into 4- to 6-inch-thick slabs. Use 1/2-pound pickling salt and 1/4 cup brown sugar for every 12 pounds. Using the salt mixture, coat all the pieces.
- Sterilize two gallons of earthenware jar by washing and rinsing it well with hot water to sanitize it.
- Put the pork in a jar or freezer bag and wrap it tightly with cheesecloth to keep it fresh. Also, keep the beef refrigerated at 36°F or below.
Brining pork
Brining is another way to preserve your meats that is as dependable as freezing but requires a little more effort.
- Fill a disinfected jar partly with meat, then add 3 liters of water, 1 pound of brining salt, and 1/2 cup brown sugar to make a brine. Make sure the salt and sugar are thoroughly dissolved.
- If the brine doesn’t surround every inch of the meat, weigh it down with a plate and a heavy item, such as a preserving jar full of water.
- For a week, keep the container covered and at 36°F.
FAQs
How long is pork good in the fridge?
Pork that has been properly kept will last 2-4 days in the refrigerator. Of course, there are other measures to this before cooking pork.
Also, check the end date on the packaging, give it a whiff, inspect the color of the pork, and make sure it’s not slippery.
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What should raw pork smell like?
A strong stench should not be detectable in raw pork. When you sniff fresh pork, you should get a faint metallic odor at most.
It’s also possible that you’ll sense the aroma of hog fat. If the pork smells like ammonia or rotten eggs, it’s ruined and should be discarded.
Can you cook pork that smells?
An off-putting smell is one of the most obvious signs that pork has decayed, as does a color shift from pinkish to brown or grey.
This type of spoilage bacteria will not make you sick if you grill the pork to an internal temperature of 145°F or 160°F for pork mince.
What happens if you cook bad pork?
You could get food poisonings such as stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, diarrhea, and other gastrointestinal issues.
Cooking and eating rotten pig, old poultry, or any other inferior flesh, on the other hand, is not 100% certain to make you sick.
Can pork go bad in the freezer?
The same freezer directives apply to uncooked pork as they do to beef. Grilled pork may be kept frozen for up to a year, while pork chops can last for up to six months in the freezer. The FDA recommends freezing cooked pig slices for no more than two to three months to keep quality.
Conclusion
When it comes to spoilt pork or figuring out how to tell if it has gone bad, it is always better to follow your instincts, since they can never be incorrect. Furthermore, pork may perish early owing to meat mistreatment or improper storage.
Similarly, you should keep an eye out for anything unusual in your pork, especially if it has been wrapped. Fresh meat should feel large in your palm when you grip it. Inspect it carefully and look for any signs of abnormality in the palm of your hand.
Also, keep an eye out for any signs of excessive wetness. Nonetheless, avoid expecting that pork would always be wet since it is a hunk of meat that is excessively dry or that being sticky means it is spoiled.
Finally, squeeze the meat if your supermarket allows it to verify that it is of the excellent quality you want. If you want to avoid food poisoning, don’t settle for anything less than a good piece of pork.
Thank you for reading.
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