Using Thawed Frozen Food

[JerryJ]

Hi everyone,

 

My power was out for about 7 hours last night. By the time power was restored, the frozen fish food (mostly PE Mysis) in my freezer had gotten soft inside the little plastic bubbles. Do you think it's okay to use this food, now that it's refrozen? I don't know how long it took for it to warm to above freezing temperature, or how long it was in an unfrozen state. I bought a lot of food in bulk from Foster & Smith, so I'm reluctant to throw out $100 or so of food. I intend to use the food, but I guess I'm looking for someone to tell me it's okay to do that!

 

Thanks,

Jerry

[tygger]

I would imagine that it would still be good for a while... check out this thread:

 

http://www.wamas.org/forums/topic/50677-frozen-food-expiration/page__p__424940entry424940

[JLW]

Let me ask you this, if it was a frozen steak up in the freezer, and it got a little thawed and refroze, would you risk eating it?

 

You know better than anyone here just how thawed it got, whether it completely melted or just a little bit, whether it melted or stayed cold, etc., and all of that matters. If it completely thawed and reached a warm temperature (unlikely in just seven hours, assuming it stayed in the well insulated freezer), it would be just fine. If, however -- like the 25 packs of frozen I just threw out -- it reached room temperature and sat there for a good long while, I'd toss it.

 

Like I said, think of it as a steak. It sounds like it just kind of thawed a little bit, so I'd eat it. The steak, not the mysids. :-D

[Coral Hind]

I would use without any fear. Fish eat dead un-refridgerated things in the ocean all the time.