Thawing Frozen Meat At Room Temperature

Food must be kept at a safe temperature during thawing.
Thawing frozen meat at room temperature. In the refrigerator in cold water and in the microwave. Once you ve thawed frozen meat you can t refreeze it unless it s in a stock soup or liquid. In fact raw meat should never sit out in temperatures above 40 f for extended periods of time and never longer than two hours for any reason. But keeping meat in the freezer is a smart way to cut down on trips to the market and take advantage of great sales on your favorite cuts of meat.
Put the raw meat on a plate in the microwave and utilize the defrost setting on the microwave to thaw. Some people may say that their families would thaw meat at room temperature and never get sick. Any foods that can go bad like raw or cooked meat poultry and eggs must thaw at safe temperatures. Department of agriculture cautions consumers against thawing raw meat at room temperature.
Never keep meat at room temperature for more than two hours. For safety reasons meat should never be thawed on the counter at room temperature or in a bowl of warm or hot water anything over 105 degrees f. When defrosting frozen foods it s best to plan ahead and thaw food in the refrigerator where food will remain at a safe constant temperature 40 f 4 c or below. That means leaving any raw poultry raw beef or any other food you wouldn t leave sitting out on the counter is a bad idea.
When you utilize this method you will need to cook the meat immediately. There are three safe ways to defrost food. Food must be kept at a safe temperature during defrosting. Foods are safe indefinitely while frozen.
When frozen food gets warmer than 40 degrees or is at room temperature for more than 2. After thawing in the refrigerator ground meat stew meat poultry and seafood should remain safe and good quality for an additional day or two before cooking. If you only have a few hours to thaw your chicken you can use the cold water method for same day defrosting. According to the usda you should never thaw meat at room temperature or in hot water.
A large frozen turkey will take at least 24 hours for every five pounds while smaller amounts like a pound of ground meat or boneless chicken breasts will take a full day to thaw. Meat provides the ideal environment for bacteria to breed so the u s. Cooking frozen meat the same day.