EDIT: Solved! Thanks to everyone who commented.
I’m talking about [this](https://ch-it.openfoodfacts.org/product/4099200059402/huhn-suss-sauer-aldi)
It’s basically a box that was on the shelf, un refrigerated, that contains cooked chicken. How are they able to keep cooked chicken shelf stable for so long?
In: 321
It’s likely chicken and veggies with sauce in a sealed bag. The components are then “pasteurized” in the sealed bag to make it shelf stable.
It’s likely chicken and veggies with sauce in a sealed bag. The components are then “pasteurized” in the sealed bag to make it shelf stable.
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basically, the trick is REALLY effective sterilisation, then sealing up the food tight.
as long as the seal isn’t broken, it doesn’t really go off as theirs just no bacteria inside to actually spoil the food.
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Irradiate the meat before they cook it then vacuum seal it so no outside contaminants can get into it. Irradiation is the process that pork goes through to make it safe to eat without having to cook it more thoroughly than other meats.
Food spoilage is from the growth of bacteria the above process is what they do to make sure that there’s little to no bacteria and that they’re not providing an environment where more can grow.
basically, the trick is REALLY effective sterilisation, then sealing up the food tight.
as long as the seal isn’t broken, it doesn’t really go off as theirs just no bacteria inside to actually spoil the food.
Your question is going to get removed because it is easy to look up the answer.
The package has to be airtight to prevent contact between the air and the food. The food must not have active bacteria on it and the moisture needs to be controlled.
Found preservation is as old as humans.
We use high salt concentrations, think beef jerky.
We can use sugar, thick of jams, jellys and honey.
We can use wax, think of cheese.
We can use heat, think of ultra high temperature (UHT) milk.
We can use acids or bases, pickles and olives.
We can use dehydration, think powdered milk.
We can excluding air, think canned and jared foods
Your chicken has been made shelf stable by one or more of those methods.
EDIT. radiation. Not commonly used in foods. Also the autoclave. Heat and pressure.
Also freezing!
Irradiate the meat before they cook it then vacuum seal it so no outside contaminants can get into it. Irradiation is the process that pork goes through to make it safe to eat without having to cook it more thoroughly than other meats.
Food spoilage is from the growth of bacteria the above process is what they do to make sure that there’s little to no bacteria and that they’re not providing an environment where more can grow.
There are several things helping to preserve meals like that.
Before being packaged, the meal is cooked and heated to pasteurize it. It isn’t cooked and then cooled off and then packaged, it’s packaged while it’s still too hot for pathogens to grow and sealed up so no more can get in before it cools.
Once sealed, there is very little oxygen inside. Many dangerous pathogens do not need oxygen (or will die around it) but most of the stuff that will spoil food requires at least a little oxygen to grow. That limits their growth and keeps the food from going bad and growing nasty stuff even though it’s at room temperature. Since it was pasteurized, there’s little chance of anaerobic pathogens getting in that can survive without oxygen.
That doesn’t mean that *nothing* is inside the packaging, just that what manages to survive the heat is probably encysted, meaning it’s inactive and incapable of growing until conditions are better. Conditions will not be better for as long as the container stays sealed.
Many of these kinds of meals require water to be added. Like oxygen, most pathogens require some water to grow. The food is dehydrated enough that most stuff won’t grow and, like oxygen, the seal prevents moisture from getting in through the air.
Many of these meals have additional preservatives that are harmless to humans in the tiny doses found in the foods, but dangerous enough to the pathogens that might try to grow. Again, it probably won’t kill *everything* but it keeps the things from leaving their protective cysts so they can’t reproduce and can’t eat your food (and then poop in it).
Many of these meals have a lot of salt. Salt is a natural preservative because it helps dry out pathogens. Water naturally flows through membranes from areas of low concentration to high concentration: too much salt outside means water will flow out of the cell and into the salty stuff. The extra salt helps preserve the food.
Once you break the seal and open up the package, you’re probably about to cook the food so it doesn’t spend very long sitting around until you pop it into the microwave and heat it back up. That kills whatever pathogens managed to survive until that point. Anything left after that is too weak and too few to do much to your body. Your stomach acid or, failing that, your immune system will take care of anything that actually makes it into your stomach.
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