The invention relates to a method for packaging meat products by feeding a flat plastic foil to a filling tube and thereby shaping it into a cylindrical shape that surrounds the filling tube and is sealed at the overlapping edges, whereby the meat product is filled into the foil tube via the filling tube and the tube is then sealed at the ends and detached. It is thereby essential that the flat foil for use with raw meat products is extruded from long-fibered synthetic fibers and has a water and/or steam permeability of at least 40 g/m.sup.2d and that the packed raw meat products are subsequently preserved by the removal of moisture and/or by smoking.