Is it safe to eat freezer food with bad odours?
I accidentaly switched my freezer off for a week. This lead to spoilage of food, pool of blood inside freezer etc. Trays are unremovable and difficult to clean. I have thrown everything away and tried cleaning with baking soda, bleach etc but smell hasn't fully gone.
I'm assuming its just the smell of blood and I don't want to buy a new freezer straight away. If I freeze food in the meantime
1. will it absorb odours?
2. If it does will the food be safe to eat?
3. Can you suggest how else I can clean the freezer or should i go and buy a new one?
Thanks
Best Answer
Food placed in a freezer with bad smells will definitely absorb odors, unless it's in very very airtight containers/packages. It won't make it unsafe to eat, just very unpleasant.
As Michael said in his comment, the odor is likely in the plastic now, so it's going to be pretty hard to get rid of. You'd want to clean every last trace that you can - use brushes for hard to reach places, use whatever cleaning products you need to help dissolve caked on stuff. After that, all you can really do is let it air out until it doesn't smell too bad - door open, preferably some moving air (outside would be best). It's hard to say exactly how long it will take or how successful it'll be; that depends on all the details. Depending on how porous the plastic his, how nasty whatever soaked into it is, and how long it had to soak in, things could vary widely.
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Quick Answer about "Is it safe to eat freezer food with bad odours?"
Food placed in a freezer with bad smells will definitely absorb odors, unless it's in very very airtight containers/packages. It won't make it unsafe to eat, just very unpleasant.Can you get sick from food with freezer burn?
Although it might not be super appealing \u2014 and the texture or taste might not be up to your standards \u2014 things that have freezer burn are 100 percent safe to eat. According to the USDA, eating freezer burn does not put you at risk for any food-borne illness or issues.Can I eat food that smells bad?
Myth 4: If It Smells OK, Then It's OK to Eat. This is definitely not always true. Spoilage bacteria, yeasts and moulds are the usual culprits for making food smell off or go slimy and these may not make you sick, although it is always advisable not to consume spoiled food.Can something in the freezer smell bad?
Most of the time, the reason for stinky freezer air is bacteria. While microbes \u2014 bacteria, yeasts, and molds \u2014 become inactive in freezers set to 0\xb0F, they can live in warmer temps. And freezers can freeze your food, even if they're warmer than 0\xb0. The bacteria then comes from spoiling food.Should frozen food have a smell?
There's a rancid or off odor. This smell might not be so obvious until the food is thawed, but, especially for meat and seafood, if it has a funky odor, it has gone bad due to a sub-ideal freezer situation.The Shocking Truth About Your Fridge | Why Stink Doesn't Go Away | How to Clean Smelly Fridge
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Answer 2
Not worth the risk, just throw it out. There's no way to tell whether the smell was absorbed, or comes from bacteria in the food itself.
Answer 3
Plastic is similar in chemical composition to fat molecules. That is why plastic containers tend to hold odors and colors from foods placed in them. If you had fatty foods in the freezer that leaked, they could have bonded with the plastic molecules, making the resulting stains and odors very difficult to remove.
A perfunctory google search should help. The link below is for plastic containers, but some of the solutions should work for a freezer as well. Once it is as clean as you can get it and refrozen, most of the odors should be suppressed. Don't forget to toss in a box of baking soda and replace it regularly.
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.