What is super market MAP packaging doing to your meat?

Researchers from Meat & Live Stock Australia have uncovered shocking facts about the impact supermarket style modified atmosphere packaging (MAP packing) has on red meat.

MLA’s tests have proven that while MAP packaging extends shelf life and looks ‘pretty’ on supermarket shelves, it’s ruining the eating quality of red meats like beef and lamb. Depending how long it’s packaged for, MAP can degrade a your meat by up to 12 MSA points – enough to remove it’s MSA eating quality guarantee.

How does MAP packaging work?

Modified Atmosphere packaging or “MAP” works by placing a chilled, fresh, meat product into a plastic tray and sealing it with a tightly stretched film. A combination of gasses including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen is then injected underneath the film to eliminate bacteria growth and double, or in some cases, triple the shelf life of a fresh meat product.

MAP is facilitated by machinery and was designed to extend the shelf life of products so that they would better suit the distribution methods of large supermarkets and retail chains.

Say no to MAP packaging

Apart from destroying the eating quality of your meat, MAP takes away jobs traditionally performed in a butcher shop by local people. No one has even looked into whether or not is has impacts on our health yet.

For these reasons you don’t, and won’t see any MAP packaging at Mighty Nice Meats. All of our meat is prepared fresh, on site, everyday.

Say YES to vacuum packing

We can help you extend the life of your meat by up to 14 days using the cryovac or vacuum skin packing (VSP) method. We do this by removing oxygen and keeping the meat at a constant chilled temperature.

VSP has been proven to have no negative impacts on the eating quality of meat and it doesn’t involve adding any gasses etc to the product. What’s even better at Mighty Nice Meats is, we vacuum pack your meat in meal size portions FREE of charge.
rump msa grass fed beef cairns butcher bingil bay

Example of vacuum packed MSA beef rump from Mighty Nice Meats

Read more about the negative impacts of MAP packaging on red meat + the full article by Jon Condon at Beef Central