Homemade Corned Beef - Expiration Date Cooking

I was looking into making Homemade Corned Beef but one thing the confused me was the USDA's estimate for expiration dates.

They say that a drained and wrapped cooked corned beef brisket lasts only 3-4 days in the fridge, or about 2-3 months in the freezer.

Is the shelf life for corned beef really that short? While I never expected it to last say five years, you'd think something that's brined with salt AND saltpeter would last more than a few days with the aid of refrigerators.

How did the explorers, sailors, and soldiers get their corned beef to keep if it preforms like that even with the aid of modern technology? Surely a barrel in a ship's hold doesn't provide the same ice cold environment as a chest freezer.

(FYI I'm a cooking greenhorn, so maybe 3-4 days IS a long time for a cooked brisket to last. I checked Foodsafety.gov and they said 3-4 days for ANY cooked meat as a general guideline, so IDK)

Submitted July 08, 2017 at 01:26PM by CoffeeNut98 http://ift.tt/2uVfuJo Cooking