During freezing or thawing, food poisoning bacteria could easily grow in the stuffing. Note: Do not stuff poultry or game birds before freezing them. For more information, see HGIC 3515, Safe Handling of Wild Game Birds. Remove excess fat on wild ducks and geese since it becomes rancid very quickly. Quail, dove, duck, pheasant and other game birds should be dressed and gutted as soon as possible after shooting. For more information, see HGIC 3516, Safe Handling of Wild Game Meats. Variety meats (liver, heart or sweetbreads) are ready to be wrapped and frozen after they are cold. The meat should be chilled to 32 to 36 ☏. Freezing Game Meatsįreshly slaughtered meat carcasses or pieces need to be cooled to below 40 ☏ within 24 hours to prevent souring or spoiling. Cook raw food and if you like the taste and texture, use it. Some may not look picture-perfect or be of high enough quality to serve alone, but may be edible use them to make soups or stews. Some foods will develop a rancid or off odor when frozen too long and should be discarded. (See freezer storage chart below.) If a food is not listed on the chart, you may determine its quality after defrosting. Length of Timeīecause freezing keeps food safe almost indefinitely, recommended storage times are for quality only. Keep a thermometer in your freezing compartment or freezer to check the temperature. Use a free-standing freezer set at 0 ☏ or below for long-term storage of frozen foods. Eat those foods as soon as possible for best quality. If a refrigerator freezing compartment can’t maintain 0 ☏, or if the door is opened frequently, use it only for short-term food storage. Instead, spread them out in one layer on the shelves, stacking them only after frozen solid. If your home freezer has a “quick-freeze” shelf, use it. Ideally, food 2 inches thick should freeze completely in about two hours. During thawing, they damage the cells and cause meat to “drip” or lose juiciness. Slow freezing creates large, disruptive ice crystals. Freeze Rapidlyįreeze food as quickly as possible to maintain its quality. Bone darkening results when pigment seeps through the porous bones of young poultry into the surrounding tissues when the poultry meat is frozen and thawed. However, the bones and the meat near them can become dark. This may be due to lack of oxygen, freezer burn or abnormally long storage.įreezing doesn’t usually cause color changes in poultry.
The bright red color of meat as purchased usually turns dark or pale brown depending on its variety. Color ChangesĬolor changes can occur in frozen foods. Heavily freezer-burned foods may have to be discarded for quality reasons. Cut freezer-burned portions away either before or after cooking the food. It appears as grayish-brown leathery spots and is caused by air reaching the surface of the food. Freezer Burnįreezer burn does not make food unsafe, merely dry in spots. If you notice that a package has accidentally torn or has opened while food is in the freezer, it is still safe to use merely overwrap or rewrap it. It is not necessary to rinse meat and poultry before freezing. Use these materials or airtight freezer containers to repackage family packs into smaller amounts or freeze foods from opened packages. For instructions on packaging with drugstore wrap, see the images below. Unless you will be using the food in a month or two, overwrap these packages as you would any food for long-term storage using airtight heavy-duty foil, plastic wrap or freezer paper, or place the package inside a plastic bag. Proper packaging helps maintain quality and prevent “freezer burn.” It is safe to freeze meat or poultry directly in its supermarket wrapping, but this type of wrap is permeable to air. In meat and poultry products, there is little change in nutrient value during freezer storage.
Nutrient Valueįreezing does not destroy nutrients. Thorough cooking will destroy all parasites. It is not recommended to rely on home freezing to destroy trichina. However, very strict government-supervised conditions must be met. Trichina and other parasites can be destroyed by sub-zero freezing temperatures. Since they will then grow at about the same rate as microorganisms on fresh food, handle thawed items as you would any perishable. Once thawed, however, these microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to levels that can lead to foodborne illness. Freezing preserves food for extended periods because it prevents the growth of microorganisms that cause both food spoilage and foodborne illness. Only the quality suffers with lengthy freezer storage. Wholesome food stored constantly at 0 ☏ will always be safe.
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