Deep freeze shut down, did I lose the meat?


 

Kyle L

New member
Long story short, ice built up on walls of deep freeze and it shut down, 1 pack of Ribs totally thawed, 1 pork shoulder thawed but I had 3 packer briskets, the flat totally thawed at the thinner part but was still semi-frozen near the point. All meat is in original cryo-vac plastic. Smaller items like pork chops, fish fillets etc all totally thawed and I tossed those. There was still a bit of ice at the bottom of the deep freeze when my wife noticed it was leaking. I really only care about the briskets but do you all think they are still safe? Thanks in advance.
 
This is a difficult one to answer, as there are many variables such as how long it was out before you noticed and how warm was the inside of the freezer. The “danger” zone for food is between 40-140F. Meat should not be left at room temp for greater than 2 hours. Even if the inside of the meat was frozen, the outside could be in the danger zone.

Notwithstanding that the inside was caked in ice, which could have served as a large cooler and kept the temps below 40F, it is difficult to say for certain that it may be safe based on the info. I tend to err on the side of caution, as food poisoning is an unkind way of losing weight.

Here red is a link that may be helpful on thawing food. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/porta...ig-thaw-safe-defrosting-methods-for-consumers
 
Did you by chance stick an accurate thermometer into the briskets ? The general rule/guideline is 4 hours between 40 - 140. But, I've been known to fudge it more than a bit for "intact/whole" pieces of meat.
 
Normal fridge temp is 32-40 and alot of folks "wet age" cryoed beef or pork for a few weeks in a fridge.
So you have to ask yourself was it cold enough or not?

Tim
 
Thanks for the replys everyone. This fell off my radar, my apologies. I ended up throwing everything away as I really didnt want to run the risk. One of those lessons learned the hard way I suppose. Don't let ice build up the walls in the deep freeze. ;-)
 

 

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