We asked food safety experts how long you have to use frozen meat after it thaws—and what happens if you eat it after too long.
For all the information stuffed into product packaging and nutrition labels, it can be surprisingly hard to know how to navigate basic food safety issues that arise in the kitchen. Like: Does freezing meat and poultry “reset” the expiration date ? Say, if you buy raw chicken breast that has a use-by date within five days and then freeze it on the fifth, do you have another five days to use it after it thaws—or has the clock already run out? Theoretical as this question might seem, the stakes could be high.
If you wait too long after thawing to finish off the meat or poultry, for example, the quality could deteriorate significantly. That’s because spoilage bacteria like Pseudomonads, Lactobacillus, and Enterococcus—which love the cool fridge temps—start to grow. Spoilage bacteria generally don’t make you sick, but they will probably yuck up your meat, leading to an “off” smell and taste. Some types of pathogenic, or disease-causing, bacteria, like Listeria, can fare well in the fridge, too, so it’s possible meat left too long could harbor health risks. That said, the primary concern in this situation isn’t foodborne illness, provided the stuff is properly cooked once thawed—rather, it’s more of a “food spoilage issue,” Martin Bucknavage, MS, a senior food safety extension associate at Pennsylvania State University, tells SELF. Not only is spoiled meat and poultry nasty , it also amounts to a waste of money and food, so it’s definitely an outcome you want to avoid. Thankfully, with the right knowledge on freezing best practices, you can do just that. First, a quick refresher on freezing: The super cold temp—freezers should be set to zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower—stalls the growth of bacteria and other organisms. Importantly, it doesn’t kill these bugs. Rather, it prevents them from multiplying . Depending on kind and cut, frozen meat and poultry is best if used within three to 12 months, but it’ll stay safe pretty much indefinitely. With freezing on the table, you no longer have to chuck a, well, package of chuck if your dinner plans change and you don’t have time to cook it before its expiration date. It’s “just a great way to save that so you don’t have to throw it away,” Bucknavage says. Helpful as it may be, though, freezing is not a miracle worker: Sorry, but it “doesn’t restart the clock” on your products’ expiration dates, Darin Detwiler, PhD, a food safety expert and associate teaching professor at Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies, tells SELF. Yes, freezing will halt the progression of bacterial growth in meat and poultry, but once they thaw, that growth will resume. For an item that’s frozen just as it’s about to expire, that growth is in all likelihood already pretty far advanced , so the countdown is well underway—and the item won’t last much longer. So that chicken breast we mentioned earlier? If you buy it five days before the use-by date and freeze it on the day it expires, you don’t then have another five days to use it after it thaws, because the resumed bacterial growth will take it past the point of no return within that time frame. Once full-blown spoilage sets in, you’ll likely notice changes to smell, appearance, and texture. “It may be grayish and feel slightly slimy to the touch,” Bucknavage says. “There might be a slight to significant odor.” These signs should signal that the item is no longer fit to eat, but if you somehow miss the signs and chow down anyway, you’d probably note a slightly sour to flat-out rancid taste . Overall? “It is not going to be good,” Bucknavage says. Unless your product is already contaminated with Listeria , you probably won’t develop an infection or anything like that. But the spoilage bacteria can produce byproducts “that can upset your stomach,” he explains. For example, Pseudomonads and Lactobacillus yield undesirable chemicals like lactic acid and hydrogen sulfide when allowed to flourish unchecked. So to prevent your thawed meat and poultry from spoiling if you froze them on or around the expiration date, the smartest move is to use such items ASAP. Basically, “you really want to cook it as soon as you thaw it out,” Bucknavage says—generally, within the day. If you want to be extra careful, shoot for within two hours, as Dr. Detwiler recommends. That said, “using” doesn’t necessarily have to mean eating. If you don’t feel like digging in that same day, you can just cook and then refrigerate the meal so you can enjoy it at a more convenient time. Much like freezing itself, cooking is another ingenious workaround that can help you extend the lifespan of your meat and poultry, since the strong heat kills off lurking bacteria. Just make sure that the internal temp reaches the minimum needed to kill pathogens—140 degrees Fahrenheit for red meat, 160 degrees for ground meat, and 165 degrees for poultry. You can use a food thermometer to check. “Having a good, accurate thermometer is very important,” since “you cannot tell the right temperature by look or feel or smell,” Dr. Detwiler says. Make sure to refrigerate leftovers within two hours of cooking. And if you’re not able to finish them off within three to four days, you can even pop them in the freezer to buy yourself some extra time! That way, all you’d have to do is thaw, heat, and enjoy—on your own clock. Related: How to ‘Fridgescape’ to Keep Your Food Safe, Save Money, and Actually Get Organized 8 Things Food Safety Experts Would Never Do in Their Own Kitchens Is It Safe to Put Piping-Hot Food in the Fridge, or Should I Let It Cool Down a Bit First? Get more of SELF's great service journalism delivered right to your inbox.
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