Cooking meat in original Cryovac packaging?

In the General Sous Vide Questions Forum
Is it safe to cook meat sous vide in the Cryovac that it was sold in?
For example, I have a nice rack of baby back ribs that are tightly Cryovac-ed with very little purge in the bag. Can I simply put this in my sous vide cooker as is? I'm only inquiring about safety. I would finish this rack off on a gas grill adding spices.
By Jerry on Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 01:50 PM


2 Replies So Far

Hi Jerry, this is a pretty commonly asked question without a great answer. In general, the answer is "it depends". If the packaging is from food-grade plastic that can handle low-levels of heat then in general it *should* be fine. I know many people cook directly from the store packaging like you are suggesting. I personally almost always re-package it just because I'm not sure what plastic most manufacturers use. I hope this helps some, sorry it wasn't a "yes" / "no" answer!
By Jason Logsdon on Tuesday, October 25, 2011 at 02:14 PM
I'm with Jason on this one. No great answer. I have tried a few times with mixed results. Unfortunately the Cryovac that seem to be sturdy enough are too large for my water bath. I tried some small pre-seasoned pork loins that came out very good but the packaging was marginal at best.
I feel I'm safer and have better control of the results by repackaging the meat, which I have to do for the larger pieces any way.

GeneK
By GeneK on Wednesday, October 26, 2011 at 03:47 AM


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