How does this tikka masala ready meal have a 5 week shelf life with 0.5% salt and no obvious preservatives?
October 4, 2025
Is it safe to eat? Or is there an error with the best before?
38 comments
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It needs three things – a nitrogen atmosphere with good seal to prevent air ingress, to have been heated hot enough and long enough to kill temperature-prone pathogens, and the have high enough acidity to stop sporific toxins (hence the addition of concentrated lemon juice).
Aren’t they meant to be frozen?
Thanks to the miracle of modern manufacturing.
Everything that went into it is clean as fuck. So keep it cold and it will be fine.
I actually used to work on the food development team for these, I recognise the font as coop, they’re made by retort process. The meal is placed in the tray, sealed and steam cooked in a giant pressure cooker, big enough to walk into. This ensures anything inside is dead, basically sterilising the meal. Curries are especially good for this process as they’re usually pretty good after a long slow cook.
Surely it’s more than 0.5% salt? I thought that ingredients were listed in the order of the proportions that they are included in the food. Given where salt sits in that order, logically it must be more than 0.5%?
In an old job, we occasionally served ‘ambient meals’, which could be stored in a cupboard for a year and then stuck in the microwave for a few minutes and be ready to eat. Bolognese and Curry if I remember correctly.
Tbf, I tried a couple and they tasted OK.
Coop Irresistible Tikka Masala? Perfectly safe, they always have a long shelf life on them. As do all the ready meal curries. Source: I work there (also how I knew which one it was lol)
wizardry
Turmeric has some preservative properties as an anti microbial, but the main factor is probably the preparation as previous comment covered.
Technically it’s safe to eat after a week but the quality of the meat will reduce a lot within 1 week and won’t be as nice
Frozen Ennit
It’s probably flushed with a particular mix of gases that reduce the level of oxygen in the pack which reduce microorganism activity.
The food is cooked which extends shelf life.
Spices and salt and sugars reduce water activity which extend shelf life. Spices also help with this.
Conc lemons juice would reduce the acidity which is another preservation method.
So there are at least 4 ways of creating a longer shelf life
Because it is heated and sealed. Everything inside is dead, until you break the seal.
Spices
Turmeric
Probably been radiated in a linear accelerator
Lots of natural preservatives in there (oil, garlic, lemon juice, chilli) but the real answer is that it’s cooked and then sealed into its package in a controlled and sterile environment.
That’s a lot of ingredients
The chilli powder?
A lot of those spices have preservative effects, and it’ll be cooked and sealed in airtight packaging, possbly with nitrogen or other gas.
Just look at Jane Plan meals; it’s all about the food being cooked at a high temperature and then making sure it is sealed adequately. They last for months in the cupboard.
Heat treatment and an airtight seal. It’s basically “canned” in that packaging, albeit it’s not as long lasting.
just so you know, along with the crazy level of cleanliness of where it was cooked and packaged. many spices are natural preservatives or anti bacterials. turmeric being the one i know of. it was used on meat before refrigeration to keep the meat from going bad.
Is anyone else wondering what the hell we are eating and maybe even if it’s not packed with nasties then maybe I shouldn’t be eating this stuff?
Salt
Indian spices are preservatives. They were developed in a hot country before the British came with their fridges.
As an aside I use Yuka a lot on food I buy and these curries tend to be on the better scale of premade meals.
Have you never bought this before? Are you not able to check online to see the dates of other ones? Or just go to the shop in person? The best before should be right but 5 weeks if it’s fresh and is real rice does sound wrong. It’s not frozen right?
Not the direct answer. Others have already gave the correct answer. However garlic is a natural preservative too and this has plenty of it in it.
Its like tinned food, its cooked in the sealed container so cannot be exposed to any germs ofter cooking.
3, maybe 4 chunks of chicken
The food scientists have achieved the impossible.
Ginger and garlic are gonna make for a hard time in their own right
It’s so bad even the bacteria won’t eat it!
Is this healthy? Like i see in Iceland these type of high protein microwaveable meals. Although they have more salt concentration. Are these healthy?
Do you know used to use curry to cover up the taste of bad meat?
The SAS recommend carrying curry powder to cover up the taste of other unpalatable food.
Perhaps that ready meal is utilizing those spices in multiple ways. Tastes great for longer! Because you can’t tell what’s bad!
38 comments
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!**
– When replying to submission/post please **make genuine efforts to answer the question given**. Please no jokes, judgements, etc.
– **Don’t be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
– This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit!
Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It needs three things – a nitrogen atmosphere with good seal to prevent air ingress, to have been heated hot enough and long enough to kill temperature-prone pathogens, and the have high enough acidity to stop sporific toxins (hence the addition of concentrated lemon juice).
Aren’t they meant to be frozen?
Thanks to the miracle of modern manufacturing.
Everything that went into it is clean as fuck. So keep it cold and it will be fine.
I actually used to work on the food development team for these, I recognise the font as coop, they’re made by retort process. The meal is placed in the tray, sealed and steam cooked in a giant pressure cooker, big enough to walk into. This ensures anything inside is dead, basically sterilising the meal. Curries are especially good for this process as they’re usually pretty good after a long slow cook.
Surely it’s more than 0.5% salt? I thought that ingredients were listed in the order of the proportions that they are included in the food. Given where salt sits in that order, logically it must be more than 0.5%?
In an old job, we occasionally served ‘ambient meals’, which could be stored in a cupboard for a year and then stuck in the microwave for a few minutes and be ready to eat. Bolognese and Curry if I remember correctly.
Tbf, I tried a couple and they tasted OK.
Coop Irresistible Tikka Masala? Perfectly safe, they always have a long shelf life on them. As do all the ready meal curries. Source: I work there (also how I knew which one it was lol)
wizardry
Turmeric has some preservative properties as an anti microbial, but the main factor is probably the preparation as previous comment covered.
Technically it’s safe to eat after a week but the quality of the meat will reduce a lot within 1 week and won’t be as nice
Frozen Ennit
It’s probably flushed with a particular mix of gases that reduce the level of oxygen in the pack which reduce microorganism activity.
The food is cooked which extends shelf life.
Spices and salt and sugars reduce water activity which extend shelf life. Spices also help with this.
Conc lemons juice would reduce the acidity which is another preservation method.
So there are at least 4 ways of creating a longer shelf life
Because it is heated and sealed. Everything inside is dead, until you break the seal.
Spices
Turmeric
Probably been radiated in a linear accelerator
Lots of natural preservatives in there (oil, garlic, lemon juice, chilli) but the real answer is that it’s cooked and then sealed into its package in a controlled and sterile environment.
That’s a lot of ingredients
The chilli powder?
A lot of those spices have preservative effects, and it’ll be cooked and sealed in airtight packaging, possbly with nitrogen or other gas.
Just look at Jane Plan meals; it’s all about the food being cooked at a high temperature and then making sure it is sealed adequately. They last for months in the cupboard.
Heat treatment and an airtight seal. It’s basically “canned” in that packaging, albeit it’s not as long lasting.
just so you know, along with the crazy level of cleanliness of where it was cooked and packaged. many spices are natural preservatives or anti bacterials. turmeric being the one i know of. it was used on meat before refrigeration to keep the meat from going bad.
Is anyone else wondering what the hell we are eating and maybe even if it’s not packed with nasties then maybe I shouldn’t be eating this stuff?
Salt
Indian spices are preservatives. They were developed in a hot country before the British came with their fridges.
As an aside I use Yuka a lot on food I buy and these curries tend to be on the better scale of premade meals.
Have you never bought this before? Are you not able to check online to see the dates of other ones? Or just go to the shop in person? The best before should be right but 5 weeks if it’s fresh and is real rice does sound wrong. It’s not frozen right?
Not the direct answer. Others have already gave the correct answer. However garlic is a natural preservative too and this has plenty of it in it.
Its like tinned food, its cooked in the sealed container so cannot be exposed to any germs ofter cooking.
3, maybe 4 chunks of chicken
The food scientists have achieved the impossible.
Ginger and garlic are gonna make for a hard time in their own right
It’s so bad even the bacteria won’t eat it!
Is this healthy? Like i see in Iceland these type of high protein microwaveable meals. Although they have more salt concentration. Are these healthy?
Do you know used to use curry to cover up the taste of bad meat?
The SAS recommend carrying curry powder to cover up the taste of other unpalatable food.
Perhaps that ready meal is utilizing those spices in multiple ways. Tastes great for longer! Because you can’t tell what’s bad!
Blast chilling.