Food Safety Guidelines for thawing Food Prior to Cooking or Consumption

Frozen Corn
Dogs
To thaw the food means to bring food products from a freezing point to room temperature. Another name for thawing is defrosting. Food is frozen so that microorganisms do not grow and so no degradation or contamination takes place as long as the food remains frozen. However, bacteria begin to multiply when the temperature of food is above 4°C. Therefore when defrosting frozen food it is important to maintain temperatures even while it is thawing.
Food Business Operators must maintain a defrosting chart in their kitchens which states the time a particular quantity of food or a particular food may take to completely thawed. This will help to begin the defrosting process well in time so foods can be thawed at the right time for either cooking or consumption.
FSSAI guidelines for thawing foods so food safety is maintained:
FBOs must label all food packets being thawed with defrost date and time to indicate 2nd shelf life. Secondary shelf life is the time limit within which the food can be used safely once the original packaging is opened.
Temperature of thawed foods that have to be cooked should not be warmer than 5°C
Only thaw that much portion of food that is required
After thawing, food products must be used within 12 hours
Thawed food products should not be refrozen or kept in the chiller for use beyond 12 hours
DO NOT thaw foods in hot water
Meat, poultry and fish should be thawed in controlled temperatures of 5°C
Thawing containers must be marked green for vegetarian food and red for non vegetarian foods
The following methods can be used for thawing or defrosting food:
Refrigerator: Thawing in the fridge may be the easiest and the safest as there is minimum handling. Refrigeration thawing takes long and time varies, depending on the temperature inside the fridge.
Cold water: Sealed packets of food are easy to thaw in cold water. Place the package in covered water in a bowl or sink and change the water every 30 minutes till the food is thawed.
Running cold water Temperature of the cold water must be 15°C or less. Defrosting by this method should not be for more than 90 minutes. There must be an air break between tap and water. Food must be placed only in sanitised food grade utensil. Do not use kitchen sink for any other purpose while food is being thawed in the sink. This method is good for thawing shellfish and other sea foods.
Microwave thawing should be used if the thawed food is going to be cooked or consumed immediately or microorganisms could multiply. This is not recommended for meats as it leaves the food unevenly thawed.