Extended Shelf Life Refrigerated Foods: Microbiological Quality and Safety

quality and safety. Extended shelf life refrigerated foods are foods that have received minimal processing or precooking and have an enhanced but limited shelf life; refrigeration is a key preservation measure. These foods include conventional products, such as luncheon meats and cured meats, as well as a new generation of partially processed refrigerated foods (NFPA, 1988) such as meat, seafood, egg, and vegetable salads, fresh pasta and pasta sauces, other sauces, soups, entrees, complete meals, and uncured meat and poultry items. Sous-vide foods, cooked inside a hermetically sealed plastic package under vacuum, are also included in this definition. If extended shelf life refrigerated foods are heat processed, the heat treatment is much less than that required for commercial sterility. Canned foods are, therefore, excluded from this food category. Sous-vide foods and others that receive a lower heat treatment than that used for Extended Shelf Life Refrigerated Foods: Microbiological Quality and Safety