Freezer Stops Freezing
First Day Off
Second Day Off
Using Dry Ice
Salvaging Thawed Food
Salvaging Raw Meat
Raw/Cooked Meat Differences
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Household freezers sometimes stop keeping the food at 0 F. Electrical power outages are the most common reason freezers stop, but cords accidently unplugged, the wrong circuit breaker turned off, the freezer's compressor wearing out, and dirty freezer coils on a hot summer day also stop freezers from keeping the food frozen. When the freezer stops, householders often wish to salvage the food. In order to safely salvage food, some critical decisions must be accurately made.
Alarm systems for household freezers alert people to accidental unpluggings and flipped circuit breakers. They are relatively inexpensive and easily installed by nonprofessionals. These devices are particularly useful when the freezer is in an infrequently used portion of the home.
Widespread power outages pose a more serious problem as they may last several days and the option of using a shelf in the neighbor's freezer is usually eliminated. Simply waiting for power to be restored is the only recommended procedure for the first 24 hours. The freezer box is well insulated and opening the door for curiosity's sake worsens the situation by raising the temperature inside. If the freezer is in a room not occupied by people and the power is expected to be off for an extended period during the winter, chilling the room may be an option.
Recommendations for the second day are to mentally (without opening) assess the contents of the freezer. If it was full, simply wait another day. If it was less than half full and in a heated room, the food has probably thawed or is starting to thaw. This problem does need to be addressed as many of the foods will produce drip when they thaw. This drip will spoil along with the food but it has the ability to seep into any cracks in the lining or around the seal to give a permanent odor to the freezer.
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Putting Dry Ice in the freezer before the foods thaw works well, but Dry Ice is not adequate for refreezing large amounts of food. Two or three pieces of Dry Ice (10 lb pieces) should hold the food below 32F for another 24 hours. Dry Ice that comes in contact with skin immediately freezes it leaving a "burn" Some grocery stores and ice cream parlors (such as Baskin Robbins) carry Dry Ice. When the power returns the Dry Ice should be removed from the freezer and placed in an ice chest until one is confident there will be no more immediate outages. Dry Ice evaporates quickly in a freezer that is running. As Dry Ice cools the freezer, it releases a gas that is harmless to inhale, but it can build up pressure. In commercial applications where very large amounts of Dry Ice are used and the freezer has a door with a latch, it is advisable to place a small object such as a straw or pencil across the seal so excess pressure can escape. There are several incidents in which large amounts of Dry Ice in commercial applications have built up enough pressure to blow the door off (detaching hinges and the latch). Household freezers usually have just a magnetic seal which will open slowly by itself if pressure builds.
Often widespread power outages occur during cold weather when ice storms and large amounts of snow are present. Putting perishable frozen foods in a hard sided container such as an ice chest to protect from animals and storing the food outside is also an option. Some householders move the entire freezer outside; but if you choose this option, don't forget to monitor the outdoor temperatures. In some situations, a only a locked freezer would lend itself to this method.
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Decisions regarding the use of thawed foods are sometimes not clear-cut as the householder may not know how long perishables have been thawed and at room temperature. Potentially hazardous foods (see safety section on this site for definitions) that have completely warmed to room temperature for an unknown period of time should be discarded. Non perishable foods that have drip on them (such as juice from raw meats stored above) should be discarded. Other foods may have quality deterioration from the freeze-thaw cycle but are safe to eat and even refreeze. (Note: Some less-perishable foods such as raw vegetables are partially cooked during the blanching step which prepared them for freezing so now are potentially hazardous foods.)
Breads (including egg bread), cookies, cakes (with non-perishable fillings and frostings), raw fruits, fruit pies, freezer jam, fruit juices, and foods that ordinarily could be held at room temperature for several days are safe to eat even though they have completely thawed and been at room temperature for over 3 hours. Bacteria which cause illness do not grow in these foods but quality changes will make them undesirable after several days unfrozen.
Cooked meat, poultry, fish, combination dishes, and cooked vegetables should be discarded if they were above 40F for over 3 hours. If only the surface was warmed above 40F, the entire package should still be discarded. These foods are an excellent environment for growth of bacteria which can cause foodborne illness. When householders do not have a thermometer to test the temperature of the food, squeezing unopened softsided packages to test for the presence of ice crystals is advised. When ice crystals are present, the temperature is usually below 40F even in the outer portions of wrapped packages.
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Raw meat, poultry, and fish are safe to eat when below 40F. These are often the most expensive items in a freezer and discarding them is an economic loss. Because most of the bacteria in these items cannot build to a level to cause illness in just 3 hours at temperatures over 40F, some microbiologists believe it is safe to salvage raw meat that has been above 40F for no more than 6 to 8 hours. (This is for average meat, a meat that was mishandled before freezing would have much larger numbers of bacteria and this extended warm period would be unsafe.) As an extra margin of safety, these mishandled meats are cooked to an internal temperature of at least 165F.
An unfortunate, but occasional scenario is a freezer in a detached garage or barn that is found stopped, the meats are completely thawed and have been for an unknown amount of time. To make assessing the status of the meats more difficult, the person who first discovers the thawing often plugs in the freezer and then tries to evaluate the food days later; by that time it is impossible to squeeze the packages and determine if any ice crystals were still present inside when the thawing was discovered. In such a situation, it is prudent for safety to discard; even if it was a half beef or other expensive amount of perishable food. The cost of the discard is unrelated to the safety risk though we often would like to evaluate things that way.
Please understand the difference between salvaging raw and cooked meat. In the cooked animal products, the cooking step has eliminated the natural flora of microorganisms usually present, and any bacteria present now most likely were introduced through human food handlers. This type of bacteria is most likely to be able to cause human illness and they are now present on a food without competition from other bacteria. This is why cooked meats should be discarded if warmed over 40F for a period of more than 3 hours. In the raw meat, there may be some microorganisms present that can cause illness but they have to compete with a natural flora of microorganisms already present in meat, and the ones that cause illness do not compete well; it usually takes more than 3 hours for them to reach dangerous levels in such a situation. And the naturally present microorganisms that produce quality changes (off-odors) also tend to outgrow those that can cause illness; so the food would be discarded due to spoiled quality. That is why raw meats have an extended period of time.
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