Short answer: botulism
Why do a lot of frozen salmon thawing instructions say to remove the salmon from the individual wrappers before thawing?
Submitted 2 weeks ago by colourlesspony@pawb.social to [deleted]
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Comments
kibblebits@quokk.au 2 weeks ago
colourlesspony@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Why would taking the fish out and putting it into another bag help with that? Wouldn’t it just come with the fish?
theunknownmuncher@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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.
OriginEnergySux@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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
MantisToboggon@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
They are all scared of the dark.
colourlesspony@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
But they come in clear wrappers?
Vandals_handle@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When fish do it, it’s called spawning
Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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.
Kolanaki@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
They’ve been soaking in water their entite life. What’s a little longer gonna do?
Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The fish won’t mind.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Why would something deep frozen need to be wrapped in individual plastic wraps?
Twinklebreeze@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
To prevent freezer burn?
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
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
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
So that they’re not frozen into a single mass of filets when all you want is one or two.
DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
colourlesspony@pawb.social 2 weeks ago
Oh, that makes sense.
ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 2 weeks ago
But free Botox without all the scary needles?
ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Good post, op. I had no clue and had been thawing fish in the plastic for forever.
Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
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???
dustyData@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
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.
ShellMonkey@piefed.socdojo.com 2 weeks ago
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?