Expert: Carol Schlitt - 11/15/2006

Question
On a couple of occasions recently when i have taken out my frozen chicken either breasts or chicken legs from the freezer to defrost for dinner i have noticed the chicken has what looks like clear spots/scales, i have discarded the food thinking its not good, but it has happened again and i would like to know if it has infact gone bad or something else? I put chicken is freezer bags as soon as i buy it and it is never left in freezer longer than 3 weeks. Nothing is happening to my other frozen meat? Please help, i hate wasting food.

Answer
Hi Katherine,

This sounds like the beginning of freezer burn -- which is not harmful to consume.  The key to freezing chicken is to make sure that air is completely evacuated from the freezer bag. One way to do this is to wrap the chicken in foil or plastic (not the grocery store wrappings)and then place in a freezer bag. Insert a straw into the bag and zip the bag as tightly as you can against the straw.  Now start sucking air out of the bag. Then quickly remove the straw and zip in shut.

I hope this will help. If you still experience problems I can contact our poultry specialist at the University of Illinois or a food safety specialist at the University of Georgia.

Carol