Is this safe?

[rkrider99]

Participating in this forum, I noticed everyone is concerned about food safety. While I am as well, I'm usually only cooking for the wife an myself, so while certain precautions are in order, we don't really need to worry about health regualtions for cooking for the masses.

That said, if anyone of you saw my posts in "https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/so-when-do-you-admit-you-have-a-problem.312643/" where I pulled lots of food out of the freezer and left it to rot on the garage floor, this is a question for you.

This morning I went to the freezer to pull out some stuff for dinner. While I was really careful at piling stuff up, so I could put everthing back in the freezer, evidently a ribeye steak escaped. The wife found it about 6 hours later on the garage floor. It's vacuum packed, but she says it was warm to the touch. She put it in the refrigerator.

Should I even attempt to cook and eat it, or toss it out. It looks fine, I haven't opened the package yet. If it smells bad, of course I'll toss it.

What say you?

 

[DougE]

How warm is the garage?

 

[bauchjw]

I would probably eat it personally, but I grew up with a father that refused to throw food away. That being said, I wouldn’t serve it to others unless I knew it stayed under 70 degrees for 2 hrs. I’m using daveomak.fs recent article on cooking food as a reference for that response, it’s about cooling food temps, but still gives you times estimate using it in reverse. Probably conservative too considering the article is on cooked food and not sealed whole meat. I believe that If you think the food stayed under 70 degrees for less than 2 hrs you’re probably good.

from the article:
Two stage cooling method
The FDA recommends that food be cooled from 135°F to 41°F (57°C to 5°C) in six hours or less. This time limit helps prevent dangerous bacteria growth. But the guidelines don’t end there. The FDA Food Code has one additional rule: Food must be cooled from 135°F to 70°F (57°C to 21°C) in two hours or less. In this range, bacteria can double in as little as 20 minutes. The faster food passes through this temperature range, the better. Food workers have the rest of the six hours to take food through the remaining temperature danger zone, from 70°F down to 41°F (21°C to 5°C).

 

[DougE]

I would probably eat it personally

Personally I'd smell it, and if it passed the smell test, I'd cook it up and eat it, but I won't recommend anyone follow my lead.

 

[Nefarious]

I'm in line with bauchjw and DougE . And maybe you dont want to risk others health, I'd eat it my self for lunch

 

[smokerjim]

Personally I would eat it, but that's me. Your nose will tell you

 

[daveomak]

If you get sick, the hospital bill would cover purchasing prime beef to fill a 10 cubic foot freezer and 10#'s of Russian sturgeon roe and a case of Russian vodka.... all because of a $20 steak..

 

[motocrash]

If you get sick, the hospital bill would cover purchasing prime beef to fill a 10 cubic foot freezer and 10#'s of Russian sturgeon roe and a case of Russian vodka.... all because of a $20 steak..

IF a bed/room were even available.
Being miserable on a gurney in a hospital hallway is not advisable.

 

[pineywoods]

If it was frozen when it came out of the freezer it would take a while to defrost so it could possibly be ok but if it was warm when she found it I'm afraid I'd be with Dave just not worth a chance of getting sick. I got to 68 degrees yesterday and I'd guess you got even warmer.
Motocrash is right those stretchers in the ER aren't at all comfortable and being shoved into the hallway because they are so busy mostly with covid isn't my idea of fun at all

 

[Smoke-Chem BBQ]

Too late to help in your case, but my first move, had I, uh, hypothetically, done something similar, would be to jam an instant read thermometer right through the packaging and into the meat, both just under the surface, and in the center. If the readings are still below 40F, you don't have much to worry about. I can't say how much above and for how long might be an acceptable risk, but at least knowing the temperatures will give you some data.

What actually happened in my case was that I was thawing chicken and ribs in a seldom-used midi-sized fridge, in preparation for a competition practice cook at home. What I didn't know was that the temperature dial, once set to the bottom 1/3 of the range, essentially turned off the fridge. When I next looked in on the meat, it felt too warm, and upon checking the internal temp was right around 50F. Throwing out the meat was painful, but probably less painful than cooking and eating it would have been.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

While cooking will kill the bacteria that multiplied while the steak sat out, it is the toxins produced by the bacteria that will send you to the ER. Those toxins are not destroyed by cooking either. It is only one rib eye; take the loss.

 

[negolien]

Participating in this forum, I noticed everyone is concerned about food safety. While I am as well, I'm usually only cooking for the wife an myself, so while certain precautions are in order, we don't really need to worry about health regualtions for cooking for the masses.

That said, if anyone of you saw my posts in "https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/so-when-do-you-admit-you-have-a-problem.312643/" where I pulled lots of food out of the freezer and left it to rot on the garage floor, this is a question for you.

This morning I went to the freezer to pull out some stuff for dinner. While I was really careful at piling stuff up, so I could put everthing back in the freezer, evidently a ribeye steak escaped. The wife found it about 6 hours later on the garage floor. It's vacuum packed, but she says it was warm to the touch. She put it in the refrigerator.

Should I even attempt to cook and eat it, or toss it out. It looks fine, I haven't opened the package yet. If it smells bad, of course I'll toss it.

What say you?

You got enough bud why risk it LOL

 

[rkrider99]

Yep, came home from golf today, and tossed it in the garbage bin. I'm not sure what the temp of the steak was, but it did get up to about 78 degrees yesterday, and if the steak was out for any length of time, I'm sure it got near that temperature as well.

I need to set some alarms for myself. I constantly will take a roast out of the freezer and leave it to start defrosting on the countertop. Next thing I know, I wake up the next morning and the roast is sitting there as warm as can be. Toss another roast out.

Last week, I took a pork roast out to defrost. Put it on the counter, and luckily, at about 2 AM in the morning, woke up suddenly, and realized I had forgot to put it in the refrigerator. All was good, the pork roast was defrosted, but was probably around 40 degrees by feel on the surface.

Unfortunately, we don't plan ahead well enough to take stuff out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost correctly. I've cooked a lot of frozen steaks and chops.

 

[TNJAKE]

Yep, came home from golf today, and tossed it in the garbage bin. I'm not sure what the temp of the steak was, but it did get up to about 78 degrees yesterday, and if the steak was out for any length of time, I'm sure it got near that temperature as well.

I need to set some alarms for myself. I constantly will take a roast out of the freezer and leave it to start defrosting on the countertop. Next thing I know, I wake up the next morning and the roast is sitting there as warm as can be. Toss another roast out.

Last week, I took a pork roast out to defrost. Put it on the counter, and luckily, at about 2 AM in the morning, woke up suddenly, and realized I had forgot to put it in the refrigerator. All was good, the pork roast was defrosted, but was probably around 40 degrees by feel on the surface.

Unfortunately, we don't plan ahead well enough to take stuff out of the freezer and place it in the refrigerator to defrost correctly. I've cooked a lot of frozen steaks and chops.

Stop setting things on the counter to thaw. You can thaw most anything in a sink of cold water very fast. I change water every 30-min to an hour. Do it that way and you'll have thawed meat to cook by suppertime and won't have to worry about forgetting you set something out

 

[foamheart]

I believe the USDA says that when it no longer has a crystline structer it can not be re-frozen.
When in doubt show the dog how much you love him.

 

[DougE]

I believe the USDA says that when it no longer has a crystline structer it can not be re-frozen.

Are you saying that once a piece of meat has been thawed, that it can't be refrozen?

 

[foamheart]

Are you saying that once a piece of meat has been thawed, that it can't be refrozen?

That was always my understanding. Ince the crystline structure is gone it have the ability to promote bacteria.

 

[TNJAKE]

Are you saying that once a piece of meat has been thawed, that it can't be refrozen?

Only if your meat was thawed outside of refrigeration it is not recommended to refreeze. If thawed in fridge below 40° and only leFt a couple days past thaw you are safe to refreeze meat.

 

[DougE]

Only if your meat was thawed outside of refrigeration it is not recommended to refreeze. If thawed in fridge below 40° and only leFt a couple days past thaw you are safe to refreeze meat.

That's my understanding. I expect you would lose some quality by refreezing, but it's perfectly safe to do so.

 

[TNJAKE]

That's my understanding. I expect you would lose some quality by refreezing, but it's perfectly safe to do so.

Honestly I don't think quality is effected much if any by freezing meat.