Just put in the freezer, all food has no expiry date? This is an expert opinion

Recently, a Hong Kong man posted a status line on the discussion forum Ladies Discuss of Hong Kong with the theme “My mother thinks that everything will not have an expiration date if it is put in the freezer“.

Specifically, this person said that his mother has long held the notion that food placed in the freezer compartment of the refrigerator will not have an expiration date. Despite this, he has repeatedly suffered from abdominal pain and even diarrhea due to this. He repeatedly asked his mother to clean, clean the refrigerator, throw away expired food, but the mother ignored it.

So, in order to avoid stomach pain after eating, the man above decided to manually clean the refrigerator freezer and discovered a lot of expired food, such as 3 bags of expired hot pot capsules. expiry date from the previous year, deep below are 3 boxes of butter, of which 1 box has expired 1 year. In addition, a lot of frozen meat, fish balls, moisturizing masks are stored in the freezer compartment.

“I didn’t expect the drawers are not big but can hold so many things… old people often think that the refrigerator helps everything to have no expiration date, it’s really…“, the man lamented after emptying 2/3 of his fridge freezer.

Doctor: 3 reasons why the freezer cannot preserve food absolutely

Taiwanese family doctor Chen Baichen answered in the TV show One Point of Health that the food kept in the freezer cannot satisfy the 3 storage conditions to prevent spoilage.

1. The freezer at home is difficult to keep the absolute temperature below -18 degrees Celsius

Dr. Chen said that the freezer at home can be turned on and off every day causing the temperature to stay just above 0 degrees Celsius, so it is difficult to ensure that foods are properly stored at the best temperature.

2. Put food directly into the freezer without cleaning

She also pointed out that some people buy ingredients and put them in the freezer right away without washing them. However, if that food contains bacteria, they can be put directly into the freezer where the temperature is less than -18 degrees Celsius, causing the bacteria to continue to reproduce slowly and destroy your food.

3. Cross-contamination in the freezer

Dr. Chen said many types of bacteria in the freezer can cross-contaminate foods, especially when the freezer is not cleaned daily. Therefore, even if the food has been prepared in advance, it can still be contaminated with bacteria inside the freezer compartment due to cross-contamination.

Even, “Some special bacteria can reproduce faster at low temperatures“, Ms. Chen warned. Therefore, she advises that if you want to put food in the freezer, you must first pay attention to setting its temperature below -18 degrees Celsius, the food needs to be cleaned and processed. before putting in, and the refrigerator must be cleaned regularly to avoid spoilage, containing many bacteria.

Source and photo: TOPick

According to GOLF