Meat storage and shelf life: a guide for trade buyers

The legal limits in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 (EUR-Lex) apply throughout storage, not just in transport. Good storage practice for chilled meat:

• a dedicated cold room or cabinet for meat, with a thermometer and a regular temperature record;
• raw meat stored below and apart from ready-to-eat foods;
• poultry, minced meat and red meat kept apart or in closed packaging;
• air able to circulate around cartons, without overloading the cold room;
• vacuum packs kept intact until use, because opening shortens shelf life;
• doors closed and the cold room not used for warm goods to cool down.

For halal meat, keep halal products separate from non-halal products in storage, clearly labelled, if your business handles both. Your certifying body may set specific requirements for this.

−18 °C is the temperature at which quick-frozen foods must be kept under Directive 89/108/EEC (EUR-Lex), and frozen minced meat and meat preparations must reach and stay at −18 °C or colder under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004. In the meat trade, −18 °C is the usual standard for all frozen meat.

Repeated fluctuations, for example from frequent door opening or overloaded freezers, cause ice crystals to grow and the meat to dry out at the surface. This freezer burn is not a safety issue in itself, but it reduces quality and yield.

Under Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (EUR-Lex), frozen meat, frozen meat preparations and frozen unprocessed fishery products must carry the date of freezing, or of first freezing if frozen more than once. Keep this date visible on every carton in storage. See our frozen halal meat range for the products we supply frozen.

Under Article 24 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, food is deemed unsafe after the use-by date. For a business, this means: no sale, no use in the kitchen, no reduced-price sale. The date is set by the producer and assumes the storage conditions stated on the label; if those conditions were not kept, the date is no longer reliable.

Controlled thawing in the cold keeps the surface of the meat at a safe temperature while the core thaws. Large pieces need considerable time, so thawing has to be planned in advance.

1. Move the meat from the freezer to the cold room, in its packaging.
2. Place it on a tray or in a container that catches the thaw liquid, below other foods.
3. Allow enough time; plan by piece size, not by habit.
4. Label thawed meat with the thawing date and use it within the time set in your food safety plan.
5. Dispose of the thaw liquid hygienically and clean the surfaces.

Thawing at room temperature or in warm water lets the surface warm up for a long time, while the inside is still frozen. If meat has been frozen and is sold thawed, Annex VI of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 requires the name of the food to be accompanied by the designation “defrosted”, with certain exceptions.

With FIFO, goods are used in the order they arrived. With FEFO, goods are used in the order of their use-by or best-before dates. In most cases the result is the same, but not always: a later delivery can have a shorter remaining shelf life than stock already in the cold room.

To apply FEFO in practice:

• record the durability date and batch for every carton at goods-in;
• place new stock behind or below existing stock with earlier dates;
• check dates daily for chilled meat and weekly for frozen meat;
• mark opened packs with the opening date;
• remove expired goods from stock immediately and record their disposal.

Good stock rotation also supports traceability under Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (EUR-Lex): if you know which batch was used when, you can respond quickly to a supplier recall.

Annex III, Section V of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 states that minced meat, meat preparations and mechanically separated meat must not be refrozen after thawing. For other meat, each thawing and freezing cycle lets bacteria multiply on the surface and damages the structure of the meat, leading to drip loss and poorer texture.

A practical rule for kitchens and butcheries: thaw only what will be used, and process thawed meat promptly. Meat that has been thawed and then cooked thoroughly may be frozen as a cooked dish, if your food safety plan provides for it.

For buyers, the same question arises at goods-in: frozen meat that arrives partly thawed, with soft cartons or ice crystals inside the packs, should be documented and reported, not refrozen. See our guide on the cold chain for meat for the handover checks.