Grey sausage

[dirtguy]

Hello everyone, I recently made a big batch of jalapeño summer sausage with added high temp cheddar. I have made this a few times before and have had no problems. I have had a chunk siting in the fridge for a little over a week and it suddenly developed a mottled grey color. it seems to mostly be around the little cheese chunks.It also smells and tastes fine.


Any ideas wtf is happening here?

[ragweed]

I'm thinking it's beginning to spoil.  That's happened to me and I just pitched it 'cause I wasn't sure.  Took about 10 days.  Now I slice the chubs in half and freeze them.  Only thawing what I know I can eat in a few days.  Just my thoughts.  Maybe some one else knows for sure.

[Sailor]

A week in the fridge should not be a problem with cured summer sausage.  Was your cheese old?  Is the cheese getting moldy?  Only other thing that I can think of is did you get the meat mixed up real good.  Sometimes a guy will get in a hurry and not mix the meat up real good and will have pockets that did not get cure.

A while back I found a package of high melt cheddar in my fridge and without looking at it real good mixed it up in a batch of sausage.  Found mold around the cheese when I cut it open.  Tossed it right away.

I can't think of any other reason why you are getting grey spots around the cheese.  I have had summer sausage in the fridge that has been cut open for at least 2 weeks and never got any grey spots.  Hmmmmmmmm not sure why you are getting them.

[beefmann]

if it is gray,, i would toss it and  start a new batch.. wouldn't  risk ones health over something that may  or may  not be safe

[Habanero Smoker]

You should get rid of it. It is not the cure that helps preserve summer sausage beyond 10 - 14 days, but the low level of moisture available for bacteria to grow. It seems the cheese provided the proper environment for the bacteria to grow.

[dirtguy]

The cheese was old but it had been frozen forever, I suppose it's possible the sausage was just in the fridge to long but it seems I have kept it longer then that before

[Saber 4]

The cheese was old but it had been frozen forever, I suppose it's possible the sausage was just in the fridge to long but it seems I have kept it longer then that before

I quit freezing cheese because it seemed to change the texture to much, that may have caused the moisture/mold problem others have described. You can always use it for hog bait and replenish your stock

[Habanero Smoker]

The cheese was old but it had been frozen forever, I suppose it's possible the sausage was just in the fridge to long but it seems I have kept it longer then that before

I wouldn't take any chances with it, and you can not always go by taste and smell to determine if food has gone bad. A good example is the bacteria listeria, that is a hardy bacteria which often spoils cured or processed ready to eat meats.

There could be a couple of factors that can cause food spoilage, but for summer sausage the problems will be linked to too much moisture and/or too high of a pH. If it is bacteria or mold, it could have been easily introduced to the meat after it was sliced opened. It may or may not have been the cheese, but the cheese may have given the bacteria or mold a better environment it needed to grow.