AboutMichael Polidori Expertise I can answer questions about food safety issues and benefits vs risks issues related to the growing, environmental effects and health effects of conventional, organic and gene altered food, both plants and animals.
I can answer questions related to the cause and treatment of nutritionally related disease (especially immune related diseases) and nutritional problems related to healing a body that has been injured through accident or bad eating habits.
Experience As a member of a group in Raleigh North Carolina I have been studying food growing methods, the regulatory efforts to influence these methods and the changes in our food supply due to genetic engineering and organic agriculture since 1998. I have prepared and participated in Public Television talk and radio shows, and debated in college forums with professors about the safety of gene altered foods. I have helped to manage booths at major North Carolina events (including the Raleigh State Fair)since 2000 giving out information concerning safety issues on nutrition and the possible dangers of genetically engineering our food supply. I have an extensive understanding of the regulatory practices of the FDA and the USDA along with the selection of personnel to craft regulatory legislation. I have participated in the preparation of the materials to be passed out at the booths we have set up. I have been involved in health care, prescription drugs, disease and wellness issues since 1997 reading and writing extensively on the internet and in daily life. I have directed friends, family and acquaintences along a path leading to health and fitness since 2000, including helping a friend to no longer need thyroid medication and assisting two acquaintenances with a poisoning they experienced in 1989 (tainted tryptophan) to be properly diagnosed and treated.
Organizations North Carolina Citizens For Safe Food, Public Citizen, Organic Consumers Association.
Education/Credentials No Degree but some college in the sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics).
Question Yesterday, we returned from vacation at 7pm. At 10 pm I found our popsicles and ice cream half melted (it was on it's side), with a little leaking out the bottom. The The side-by-side freezer was full and the meat seemed solid. The empty fridge smelled a little stale. We were really tired so I turned the freezer on high and checked it today. The ice in the icemaker was a little fused in the bottom of the bin but most was fine. There are frost crystals in my veggies in the door and on the cellophane of the fz dinners. I don't know if the electricity had gone off at any time or if we accidently didn't close the door when we first returned earlier in the day. Do you think my food (other than ice cream)is safe to eat? Can the ice cream give me a clue if the electricity was off for a long or short time?
Answer Hy Lynda,
I have a couple of questions for you before I give you some of my answers to your question for me.
Was everything fine with your freezer and fridge at 7 PM when you first returned?
Is it possible that things were already melting before you returned from vacation?
Ask your neighbors and your power company about any outages for your area during the time you were gone. It sounds like a power outage before you returned from vacation, unless you left both doors of your side-by-side open causing the melting in the freezer AND the stale smell in your fridge.
When you find out if, when and how long your power outage(s) was/were let me know and I will give you more information.
The meat will thaw from the outside in. If it was still solid you will not have a problem with it unless; Your fridge went off for an extended period of time while you were gone, the meat thawed and then refroze. Critters that were on it or in it would have had a chance to proliferate before being refrozen. Even if you cook this meat really well killing all of the bacteria, the toxins they leave behind while alive and partying can make you sick. You will have to do some detective work to find out what may have happened.
To answer some of your other concerns; Frost crystals will happen in any package that is not vacuum sealed. That is due to the cycling of the freezer when the temperature gets above a certain point. The colder dry air coming into the freezer causes frost to happen on the INSIDE of your packages in the same way a cold drink sweats on the outside. Moisture from the food, even though it is frozen, gets into the air of the package and condenses on the inside surface of the package. The now drier air (inside the package) draws more moisture out of the food until the food and the freezer are the same temperature. The next cycle of the freezer will repeat this process. The longer you leave something in the freezer, the more frost will show up on the inside of the package. This is freezer burn.
Try an experiment. Leave an ice cube out in your freezer for a couple of weeks. It will slowly disappear. Colder dry air will evaporate the ice cube. If you put the ice cube in a small airtight container frost will form on the inside of the container while the ice cube shrinks.
