Hi Marva, 

Storing foods in lard could be a risky practice. What specific foods and techniques are you looking into?

The largest food safety concern with storing foods in lard is the same as storing foods in any kind of fat or oil: botulism. This disease occurs when people eat foods that have been improperly stored in ways that allowed the bacteria C. botulinum to grow and produce toxins. C. bot grows on low acid foods (such as meats and vegetables) that are moist, kept at moderate temperatures, and are kept in a low-oxygen environment. If you were to place a moist food into lard and store it there at room temperature, you would have a risky food that could cause botulism poisoning. 

Properly rendered lard has all moisture removed and impurities removed, just like any vegetable oil or other purified fat. Without any moisture in the product, the fat can keep good at room temperature for long period of time. If you submerge other foods in the lard, however, you are reintroducing moisture and a place for C. bot to grow and produce toxins. 

For any low acid food submerged in oil or fat, we recommend storing in the refrigerator no more than 4 days. 

Thanks for using Ask Extension!

Jared

Hi Marva, 

OSU Extension recommends either drying meat (as in jerky) and storing in air tight containers, or pressure canning raw or partially cooked meat using a tested process. We do not have recommendations for storing dried meats in lard. My main concern with this technique would be that any residual moisture in the meat could be a site for C bot to grow and produce toxins. 

When you make dry meat to make jerky and store in jars, it's easy to tell quickly if the meat was fully dried because you'll see condensation form on the jars (or other containers). If you store in lard, you won't be able to see that condensation that could form inside the fat layer. We know from research on flavoring oils that even a small droplet of moisture on a low acid food can be enough to support botulism toxin formation when it's surrounded by oil. 

I linked at the top our publications on jerky and on canned meats, both of which produce good results for shelf-stable storage of meat. I hope those are helpful!

Jared