The question of fatback going rancid never crossed my mind until I opened a large pack of it, and it smelled off. But how off is too off when it comes to vacuum-packed meat? I didn’t know so I ended up tossing that batch (and my nine dollars!) into the green bin. Further experience and research tells me that proper fatback storage is important so I decided to share this fatback exposé (ha ha) here with you in this helpful article.

So … does fatback go bad?

Yes, raw fatback can go bad (or rancid) after three days to a week (and possibly more) in the fridge. Raw fatback goes bad faster when it’s stored in a closed container (or bag) and exposed to air and condensation. Cooked fatback lasts for at least a month in the fridge; raw and cooked fatback can be kept in the freezer for six months to a year.

Let’s dig in a little further into not letting your precious fatback expire on your watch and how to know if your fatback has turned rancid. But first, let’s clarify what fatback is.

Definition: What is fatback?

Fatback is a slab of fat from the back of the pig. It’s a white, hard fat and doesn’t typically have any meat attached. Fatback makes other food tastier. [For more on how to use fatback in your cooking, check out my article, Can You Eat Fatback? Yes: Here’s How!]

Does fatback go bad?

Unfortunately, yes: raw fatback can (and does) go bad.

However, once you cook the fatback, it lasts a lot longer. Fatback can be rendered into lard, sliced up and cooked like strips of bacon or cut into small pieces to cook/fry into Scrunchions (which is a term from Newfoundland and Labrador for fried pieces of pork fat or salt pork). Cooked fatback products can keep for months in the fridge without going off (and lard much longer).

How long does fatback last in the fridge?

Raw fatback should last three days to a week (and possibly more) in the fridge.

This is a large window as there’s disagreement on this question.

In their article, What Is Fatback?, The Spruce Eats says, “You can keep fresh fatback tightly wrapped in plastic in the fridge for four to five days.”

Similarly, in the Pork Fatback article on the Chef’s Resources site, they say, “When not frozen, fatback will last about three days in your refrigerator before going rancid.”

Three days seems very short, so I emailed my butcher shop about how long fatback lasts in the fridge. I was told, “It should last for at least a week (especially if it’s vacuum-sealed).”

It’s important to know how long it’s been in someone else’s fridge before it gets to you. Claire, from my butcher shop, told me what day they get their pigs for processing and what that means for me storing fatback in the fridge. For example, if they process pigs on Wednesday and I buy my fatback on Tuesday, that fatback is already six days old. So, if I store it in the fridge for another week, that makes it almost two weeks old.

A trick for extending the shelf life of fatback in the fridge 

This is a hypothesis only at this point as I’ve done this with beef fat but not pork fatback. However, I’m guessing it would work equally as well.

If you need to store your fatback in the fridge for more than a week, store it in the open air. For example, you could lay it flat on a stainless-steel cooling rack (over a cookie sheet). This lets air flow freely around the meat which removes the possibility of condensation-induced rancidity.

[I’ll do a test and keep you posted! Hang tight!]

My experience with rancid fatback

I’ve learned from experience that keeping a bag of fatback in my fridge for too long leads to rancid fatback and heartache.

I’ve only ever bought fatback from my butcher and it comes in large vac-packed plastic bags. Sometimes the bags contain nine pounds of fatback, sometimes three or four pounds.

The second time I bought a bag of fatback, I threw it in the fridge right away, instead of freezing it. I needed some time to think of what to do with it (and how to split up that nine pounds since I couldn’t use it all at once). Unfortunately, time slipped away from me and when I opened the bag about a week later, I suspected something was wrong.

Which brings me to…

How can you tell if your fatback has gone bad?

You can tell if your fatback has gone bad with one of your senses: smell.

Using your nose to determine if your fatback ain’t quite right

When I opened that bag of fatback that was sitting in the fridge for a week (or maybe longer), it smelled a little “off.” But, as I said, it was only my second time using fatback, so I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to smell like. The smell wasn’t bad enough for me to dump it in the green bin right away.

I rinsed off some of the fatback and started cutting it up (my plan was to make some crispy fat chunks, seasoned with British spice mix). As I got new pieces out of the bag, I sniffed each one and they all smelled the same: a little off.

If this had been my first experience with fatback, I probably would’ve proceeded; after all, it didn’t smell terrible. However, from my first experience with vac-packed fatback, I knew that fatback didn’t really have a smell.

So, after a few minutes of chopping and sniffing, I decided the fatback was rancid (at least mildly) and I tossed it all in the green bin. All that fatback down the drain. That it only cost $1 per pound didn’t cheer me up any. What a waste.

Honestly, I still wasn’t sure if I made the right decision until the next time I went to the butcher shop and asked for some fatback. The meat hawker went to the back to get some. When he came back, he said that although they had some it was too old, so I’d have to put in a special order for another batch. I felt vindicated; it does go bad! [This experience did make me wonder why they don’t keep fatback in the freezer, but I digress.]

But there is one thing to know about using your nose to determine if your fatback is okay…

Fatback in a vac-pack: Is it rancid or is it confinement odour?

Vacuum-packing meat makes meat last longer in the fridge but there’s a downside known as confinement odour. In the article, Sirane’s sweet smell of success (on the Packaging News website), Jeremy Haydn-Davies, the sales director at Sirane, is quoted as saying, “Returns are a significant issue for vacuum-packed meats…as unpleasant odours can cause customers to wrongly think food is off when in fact the food is absolutely fine.”

When you cut open a chunk of vacuum-packed meat and give it a sniff, the meat can smell a little off. Like sour milk, cheese or a sulphurous smell. According to the same Packaging News article, “Confinement odour is caused by natural bacterial activity in the pack and it disperses fairly quickly after the pack is opened.”

As you’ll know from my fatback-sniffing experience, the weird smell didn’t go away which indicated I wasn’t experiencing confinement odour (not that I knew about confinement odour at the time).  

What’s the best way to store fatback in the fridge? And two alternatives!

The best way to store fatback in the fridge is in the original vac-pack so long as the seal hasn’t been broken. When you store fatback loosely in a closed plastic bag or container, condensation can develop which hastens rancidity. (I recently experienced this with suet in a Pyrex container after about a week, so sad!)

If you want it to last longer, store it uncovered like the cooling rack method mentioned above or even in large bowl (use a bowl large enough so that the air can circulate around the fatback pieces).

But really, instead of pushing the limits of fatback in the fridge, just store it in the freezer. And when you know what you want to do with it, take some out of the freezer and use it within a few days.

Or render your fatback into lard which can last for years in or out of the fridge. [For more on the staying power of lard, check out my article on confit, Confit: Preserving Yummy Meats the French Way.]

How long does fatback last in the freezer?

Fatback can be kept in the freezer for six months to a year. Honestly, it should be fine for more than a year if it’s wrapped well. Freezer burn happens when your food is exposed to air in the freezer so don’t throw your fatback into a loose plastic baggie if you want to keep it in the freezer for a long time.

Instead, store it properly for the freezer…

What’s the best way to store fatback in the freezer?

The best way to store fatback in the freezer is in the original vac-pack, a vacuum-sealed bag that you create at home or a tightly sealed plastic baggie. If your fatback comes snugly wrapped in butcher paper, that’s fine too.

Conclusion

So, there you have it; Fatback can go bad but it’s easy to avoid this fate with a few simple precautions. If you’re wondering what to do with the fatback in your fridge right now, read my article, Can You Eat Fatback? Yes: Here’s How!