Meat Defrosting Question

[nikinicole]

Hi everyone, I'm having a little dispute with my temporary roommate. He says its ok to allow meat to sit on the counter top in our 78 degree house to defrost. He says he has done it his whole life and never had any problems. I say that meat should only be defrosted in the refrigerator, under cold water, or in the microwave.

Am I being too cautious? Or is he just writing an invitation for icky bacteria?

[madhen]

He is wrong. You are right.

The majority of bacteria grow between temps of 40F and 140F. It is never okay to leave food out for a long time in that temp range. And it is REALLY not okay to do it with meat!

Typically, if the meat is cooked for a while at temps above 140F, it will kill off much of the bacteria, which may be why your roommate is still okay. But if you eat your meat on the rare side, you have to make sure the interior of the meat ALSO exceeds 140F, and for a good long time.

[madhen]

I might also mention that most food poisoning happens well over 24 hours from eating the bad food. So while your roommate may THINK he has been just fine, that nasty stomach flu he had, or that bug that had him feeling depressed, or that really bad headache that occurred 76 hours after he ate a rare steak, could all be food poisoining.

[Lilolme]

I have always let my meat thaw out on the countertop. No one here has really had any complications from doing it that way. I guess it is a personal decision on my part. If something had ever happened to any of us I suppose I might change my mind and my habits of how I defrost my meat.

[IntlMom]

He is technicaly wrong - you are technically right -
having said that, I have thawed meat on my counter forever, as has my mom. as did her mom

[BlessedMomof2]

I will occasionally thaw meat out on my countertop or run it under hot water to help defrost it, and we have never gotten sick.

But I do prefer to thaw it out in the fridge.

[jdr250]

Technically you're right. But on the other hand, my aunt always thawed meat out on the counter, and I followed along in that tradition and still do and never have I been sick and I eat my steaks still mooing....lol
I think that sometimes, as a society we learn to much about germs, bacteria etc. Kind of like all my life we kept hard boiled eggs out in an easter basket at easter for days and would just go grab one and eat it we were fine, then I'm told eggs have to be refrigerated even though they're hard boiled.
Not that food poisoning is a good thing, but I'm of the belief that we have sanatized our lives too much....too many disenfectants, to much antibacterial stuff, too many antibiotics now we are so much more susceptible to getting sick because we aren't exposed to these things the way people were years ago.

[madhen]

When I got my certification as a Master Food Preserver, I saw/read enough about food poisoning to say better safe than sorry. Yes, it may be that you've never gotten food poisoning (or not recognized it as such), but I don't believe it is worth the gamble, when the losing side is you in the hospital with explosive diarrhea. Triple that risk if you are feeding that food to the very young or elderly.

I agree that, as a society, we have become obsessed with sanitation. (Although, strangely, I still notice women leaving the public bathrooms without washing their hands or just passing their hands quickly under the water!! ) But we are also a society that is learning that there are things out there that CAN hurt us, and if we know how to take simple precautions against those things, why not do so?

Meat thaws quite nicely in the fridge and then also doesn't potentially contaminate your counter, which then has to be disinfected. Our parents thawed on the counter because they didn't have conveniences such as microwaves. We don't really have any such excuse to take risks with our health.

[nikinicole]

Thanks everyone for your super helpful posts! From now on, I'm going to try to make sure I get the meat in the fridge early enough so I can be safe, but I probably won't make a huge deal if he does the counter top thing every once in a while.

Thanks so much!

[Trishagirl]

I have alway thawed my food out on my counter but my house is not 78 degrees more like 68 we've never gotten food poisioning.

[Marzipan]

I thaw most meats on the countertop- I know it is not supposed to be safe but I figure that if I don't let the meat get warm then it is OK. I always make sure the meat is very cold to the touch, and I move it from the counter to the fridge when it is almost done thawing. By doing it this way, I don't think the meat ever gets in a danger zone temp.
I don't do this with large meats though because the outside of the meat could get warm and go bad before the center has a chance to thaw out. I will thaw chicken breasts on the counter, for example, but a whole turkey gets thawed out in the fridge!

[MomToTwoBoys]

I take mine out of the freezer the night before and let it thaw in the fridge. If it's a turkey, I take it out the day before and let it sit in a cold water bath for the time allotted on the package, then I put it back in the fridge for the next day. I usually let chicken thaw in the fridge, the same with hamburger but with hamburger I put it in the microwave to finish the thawing.

[ladykemma2]

house at 78, that's hot! makes me sweat just thinking about it!