However, some pathogens can only grow in the absence of oxygen. An example is Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic bacterium that produces neurotoxins.
Oh, that makes sense.
edit: I guess I will start taking them out the package to thaw. Botulism is scary AF
But free Botox without all the scary needles?
That’s a good point.
No! The entire idea is to avoid the points!
Just make sure to shove the salmon into your lips instead of between them.
Good post, op. I had no clue and had been thawing fish in the plastic for forever.
What exacerbating factors promote the production of these neurotoxins? Are there any preparation methods that concentrate them or otherwise adversely effect the lethality of my salmon???
Oxygen, I think is the major factor. As long as the salmon is frozen and sealed, the bacterial growth is slow/spores remain inactive. When thawed while sealed, they are all trapped in there without oxygen and become active with the increased temperatures. According to some quick wikipedia search, it is the germination of spores into bacteria that creates the neurotoxin. The absence of oxygen is a requirement for the germination, so it promotes neurotoxin production. Releasing the salmon from the package before thawing lets oxygen in, thus they won’t become active as the salmon thaws, since oxygen slows down the bacterial growth.
Not an expert so take it with due caution, but as I recall when canning things like meat and I think tomatoes you have to use a pressure cooker rather than just boiling water to get the temps past 100 C, so I guess just cook the shit out of it?
Note: this is not food safety advice. If you think food has botulism I would recommend throwing it out instead of cooking it and hoping you got it hot enough.
Short answer: botulism
Why would taking the fish out and putting it into another bag help with that? Wouldn’t it just come with the fish?
The botulism bacteria is anaerobic. It is not active the same way in the presence of oxygen. So when you open the bag and remove the fish, you are introducing oxygen.
But botulism shouldn’t grow that quickly right? Even in ideal conditions it should take days to grow, and salmon should only be briefly thawed and then cooked.
Overnight thawing refrigerator for 24 hours? Absolutely enough time. It doesn’t need fully thawed fish, just enough of a surface on the corner of the package closest to the door is enough to get it started.
If it’s there. But transferring it into an oxygen environment removes the risk, which is the goal of the packaging.
Holy shit cheers for posting this. I never read the packet and just defrosted each piece in its wrapper in the fridge overnight - but won’t after seeing the comments and confirming. God dam wtf
Because you dont want it to soak in the watery slop that is the inside of that plastic wrap. It will distinctly affect the taste.
They’ve been soaking in water their entire life. What’s a little longer gonna do?
The fish won’t mind.
They are all scared of the dark.
But they come in clear wrappers?
When fish do it, it’s called spawning
angry upvote
Why would something deep frozen need to be wrapped in individual plastic wraps?
To prevent freezer burn?
I have lived my whole life without seeing single wrappers or worrying about “freezer burn”. Do you mean feeling cold when you touch something that’s cold? Even when pouring a liquor that’s been in the freezer it hurts in the moment but it’s nowhere near an actual burn
You’ve never experienced freezer burn? It’s not when it feels too cold to touch.
Freezer burn is when “unwrapped” food in the freezer gets ice crystalized all over it. It turns the texture into a disgusting mess when it’s cooked…overly chewy and even messes with the taste.
It happens more often when food has been opened and then placed in the freezer for a prolonged period of time.
I say unwrapped because it doesn’t necessarily mean just open without a container. Like for example I have a bag of chicken nuggets in the freezer. The bag has a re-closable ziplock type closure. However, sometimes over time, if I’ve opened and re-closed the bag, sometimes some of the remaining nugs get freezer burned.
If you’re using up said bag of nuggets relatively quickly, then it’s not a concern. But if you’re only having nuggets once and a while, then freezer burn is more likely to happen.
Can’t say I’ve heard the term before, no. Also not something I recall experiencing, I usually close bags with a clip or elastic band and most of the time they don’t last for more than a couple of meals anyway, but I can see how that could happen if you have family-sized ones
From what I have read, ice is a lot less stable than we usually think. Over time the moisture in food will migrate out and form crystals on the surface leaving the food item dehydrated. It’s more or less the same principle they use for freeze drying.
If you ever find crystals on top of your ice cream, it’s the same thing happening.
It’s also made much worse by defrost cycles. During a freezer defrost cycle the air temp in the freezer will often get above freezing. It shouldn’t be above freezing for very long but it can be long enough for the surface of food to thaw very slightly and then refreeze again. This is why food lasts longer in old school chest freezers. Those freezers don’t have any automatic defrost so food isn’t repeatedly slightly thawing and refreezing.
Chest freezers also don’t lose nearly as much cold air when opened compared to upright.
Yeah if you’re using them up that quick, you’re not likely to really come across it which is good!
So that they’re not frozen into a single mass of filets when all you want is one or two.