this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Cooking kills most bacteria - but not all, that's how food poisoning still happens in cooked food (cross contamination too, but that's a separate issue). You should never defrost meat at room temp, best way is in the fridge since it still keeps it at a temp that's safe for a few days after being fully defrosted but it takes a day or two to fully defrost. To do it faster you can submerge it in cold water if you replace the water every couple of hours (or more often, depending on your room temp) until you cook it but that's a last resort if you just need it defrosted in the same day
I thought the cooked food poisoning is from the toxins that bacteria/fungi make in the food. The toxins are usually to keep competitors from taking their food.
It is - the bacteria and fungus grow extremely rapidly when it's between refrigerator and cooking temperature, hence why you usually cook meat from refrigerator temp and don't wait for it to get to room temp unless you need an excuse to get out of work for a very painful few days.
Defrosting meat in room temp or hot water gets the outer layers to room temp or warmer much faster than cold water, and the outer sections immediately begin to grow bacteria/fungus extremely fast because of it. Cold water will slow that growth down long enough for the middle to defrost, but you need to keep changing the water or the bacteria will just keep growing faster and faster.
Also, defrosting meat too fast or cooking it while frozen messes with the texture and flavor of it because the ice crystals haven't had time to reintegrate into whatever is being cooked which is why you don't cook stuff that is still frozen (not to mention it will cook extremely unevenly)
If you practice basic cleanliness in the kitchen, this is much more unlikely than you're making it out to be. I always defrost on the counter overnight and put in the fridge in the morning, and I've never given myself food poisoning of any sort.
There is a big difference between commercial food safety regulations and what is safe enough for individuals at home.
The fastest way, like 15 mins is to take the sealed package of frozen meat and put it in a container with hot but not boiling water. The meat will act like an ice cube, cooling down the water and other than the very center of the meat it will be ready to cook right away. This is really only good for ground meats because you can fry, flip, and scrape off the frozen center bit while browning the rest of the meat. Still better than microwave defrosting.
This is NOT a food safe practice. Following this advise is extraordinarily dangerous. Thawing under cold, running water is the safe way to thaw frozen meat.
I know it isn't food safe but it is 10 mins or less and if you are cooking it as ground meat and you break down cook it fully then you are pretty unlikely to have bacteria issues. I wouldn't do it to a roast where the outside is going to be defrosted way longer than the center.
Also the best thing is to freeze ground meat in thin layers, like one pound in a large Ziploc so it is less than 3 cm thick and defrosts fast without the hot water.
Afaik, all immeadiately dangerous bacteria get killed by cooking. To completely kill the botulism bacteria for example, you'd have to heat it to 120°C, but the botulism bacteria isn't dangerous, it just produces toxins (that are destroyed at 80°C). The only real concern here are toxin producing bacteria and fungi (that won't sufficiently reproduce in such a short timespan as is necessary for thawing 1kg of meat). It might be bad if you left it out for longer.
This is the reason that the food standard cooking temperature for a variety of different meats in the EU is 80c for a variety of different amounts of time, it's not to kill the pathogens it's to kill the by-products. Edit typo. Edit facts https://www.food.gov.uk/business-guidance/cooking-safely-in-your-business