Today’s Behind The Date Label feature is San Gennaro polenta. Their pre-cooked, shelf-stable polenta is designed for home cooks to slice, pan-fry and serve. Big thank you to company owner Tony Mascio who helped me understand the shelf life story of this Italian staple.
Product: San Gennaro polenta. Made with water, corn meal, salt and seasonings, polenta is a creamy, corn-based alternative to rice, pasta or bread.
Sealed shelf life from date of production: The printed shelf life works out to 10 months from the date of production; you may find it’s good for much longer than that.
Date label language: “Best by.”
Safe to eat after the best by date, as long as the packaging is intact: Yes! If it looks good, it’s still fine. But if you wait too long, it could dry out.
Can you eat packaged polenta after the best by date? What can go wrong if it’s too old?
San Gennaro polenta is safe to eat after the best by date, but if you wait too long its quality could decline because of moisture loss. While the plastic packaging keeps microbial invaders out, trace amounts of water can evaporate through the plastic over time. If many, many months go by, the polenta won’t become unsafe, but it will dry out and shrivel. The color might fade. But it will still be safe to eat as long as the packaging is intact. And, you might not see these changes until long after the best by date has passed. If the polenta still looks good, it’s probably perfectly fine.
In fact, Mascio said his company once kept a package of their polenta on a shelf for seven years. They eventually sent it to a lab that confirmed that nothing harmful was present.
“It was totally clean,” he said. “Now would I suggest eating it? No, no way.”
How is packaged polenta able to stay safe at room temperature for so long?
Two factors keep it safe at room temperature:
- First, it’s heat treated and packaged while very hot – more than 200 degrees Fahrenheit– so active microbes are stopped in their tracks.
- Second, while polenta doesn’t taste acidic, San Gennaro makes sure the polenta is acidic enough to stall any bacterial growth (some spores can survive high temperatures so aren’t nixed during the heat processing). The company adds tartaric acid, which, interestingly, is a byproduct of wine making. “It’s just an acid that works without making too much of a tart flavor,” Mascio told me.
Mascio said San Gennaro follows federal regulations for acidified foods, which you can read more about here.
How would you know if something’s wrong?
In the rare instance where a microbial invader sneaks in (most likely because of damage to the packaging), Mascio said you might see the plastic casing puff up with gas formation. If the wrapping is breached and the product is contaminated, you could also see mold forming, possibly near the clips, or discover that some of the product has liquified. In any of those cases, you should throw it away. But, as long as you handle the package properly, spoilage is extremely unlikely. “I can’t even think of the last time I heard a complaint of that happening,” Mascio said. “It’s very rare.”
He added that many years ago store clerks used to accidentally pierce the outer plastic when they opened boxes with razors. The family company solved that problem by adding a protective tray just beneath the top of the box.
If your polenta looks oddly crumbly, Mascio said that’s most likely because it’s been frozen. That could be because you put it in the freezer, or it could have happened if the truck hauling it to your store spent a night in a chilly part of the country. Polenta that’s showing signs of freezer damage isn’t unsafe, but may not be appetizing. More on the perils of freezing polenta below.
What’s the best way to store San Gennaro pre-cooked polenta?
Store San Gennaro pre-cooked polenta in your pantry or cupboard. While freezing is great for extending the shelf lives of many foods, Mascio said very cold temperatures draw the water out of the corn, making the polenta crumbly. You can store polenta in your fridge, but that will also cause some water to collect between the polenta and the plastic wrapping. “Keep it in the pantry, in my opinion,” Mascio said.
How long is polenta good for after you open it?
After opening, Mascio said San Gennaro polenta is good for five to seven days, based on the company’s experience with the product. But, he said, use your best judgment. Once you open a packaged food, it can be contaminated by any nearby microbes (like on your hands and kitchen surfaces). Keep opened polenta refrigerated when it’s not being served.
For more about San Gennaro, a family company founded by Italian immigrants to Washington State, visit www.polenta.net.
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