How to thaw frozen salmon vacuum sealed

From salmon to large jumbo shrimp, there are as many delicious frozen seafood options on the market as there are fresh. While a large bag of frozen fish filets is usually more cost-efficient than buying fresh (and saves you a few trips to the grocery store), fresh seafood can be cooked at a moment's notice. So what do you do when you decide at the last minute to cook seafood that's frozen? How do you do it quickly and safely without sacrificing quality? We took a deep dive with our experts.

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Seafood Quality

If you think that frozen seafood is of worse quality, think again. Often, fish are filleted and frozen immediately after capture. "Freezing, when done properly, is an excellent way to 'lock-in' the quality inherent in the catch so that when thawed, you're getting essentially the same quality you would have had if you ate it on the boat with the fishermen," says John Burrows, seafood technical program coordinator of Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

Storing Seafood

Let's assume you're not running a home organizing Instagram account as a side hustle. Most likely, your freezer is jam-packed with frozen fruits and vegetables, ice cream, your favorite Trader Joe's meals, and vacuum-sealed fish packages. So what's the best way to safely store seafood in a crowded freezer? "The bottom of the freezer, away from the door in order to avoid temperature fluctuations when opening and closing your freezer," says chef and sustainable seafood expert Barton Seaver. Burrows agrees and suggests ensuring your freezer is very cold (minus 10 degrees F or colder) and that the door shuts adequately.

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Thawing Seafood

Defrosting seafood or lobster tails requires more time and patience than fish filets. Bluzette Carline of Seabest recommends thawing frozen fish in the refrigerator for 10 to 12 hours before cooking. If pressed for time, thaw seafood in cold water for 3 to 5 minutes. "However, quick thaw methods should be approached with caution, as improper thawing can seriously damage seafood quality," warns Burrows. Once the product thaws, keep it chilled until ready for use.

Follow the same safety precautions when thawing fish fillets. Carline recommends removing frozen fish fillets from the packaging and placing them in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours until thawed.

Signs That Frozen Seafood Has Gone Bad

Once your fish has thawed, check for any strong "fishy" odors, which are a sign that it's past its peak. Seaver says to look for ice crystals and dry or discolored spots, all of which indicate that the fish was exposed to air and thawed briefly before re-freezing. As a big advocate for cooking with frozen seafood, Seaver adds: "The best way to avoid having seafood go bad is to cook your frozen inventory. It's a great weeknight option."

There's a lot to love about individually wrapped pieces of frozen fish: they're easy to store, prepare and portion.

But what if we told you that those handy vacuum-sealed filets also pose a huge hidden health risk? Eeek!

Few people realize that thawing fish in its packaging presents a high risk for botulism.

Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic bacteria that forms spores that allow it to thrive in low-oxygen environments—like the ones created by vacuum-sealed packages. When the right conditions are present, the spore can produce a deadly toxin. That toxin causes botulism, a life-threatening disease that attacks the nervous system.

The warmer the temperature, the quicker the toxin forms. And when temperatures rise above 38 degrees Fahrenheit—i.e., the moment you remove it from the refrigerator—the risk for botulism increases greatly.

Luckily, exposing the fish to oxygen by removing it from its packaging can stop the spores in their tracks.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the safest way to defrost your frozen fish is overnight in the refrigerator (the temperature should be set below 38 degrees anyway), but if for some reason you take an alternate route, always remove the packaging first.

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Botulism is a word often associated with home canning and dented canned goods you find at the grocery store. But did you know vacuum-sealed, individually wrapped pieces of frozen fish also pose a risk for the bacteria?

I love to buy individually wrapped pieces of frozen fish for portion control and easy meal prep. I’ve bought frozen fish in all varieties for years, so I was surprised when I was shopping for frozen salmon recently and a seafood employee stopped me, saying, “Don’t forget to remove the fish from the packaging before you thaw it.”

No one had ever told me that before. I asked him why, and he said that thawing fish in its vacuum-sealed packaging makes for a high risk of botulism. Shocking, right?

What To Know About Botulism

Botulism is a rare but serious and often fatal illness caused by the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, which attacks the body’s nerves. Symptoms begin with the weakening of the muscles around the eyes, face, mouth and throat. It can then spread to other muscles of the body including the neck, arms, torso and legs. Severe symptoms include breathing difficulty and, in the most serious cases, death.

How Botulism Grows In Vacuum-Sealed Packaging

Turns out, the C. botulinum toxin is created when spores allow it to live in certain conditions, such as — you guessed it — low-oxygen vacuum-sealed packages. The warmer the temperature, the quicker the toxin forms. When temperatures are above 38 degrees Fahrenheit, the risk for botulism increases greatly.

Some home refrigerators operate above 38 degrees (Consumer Reports says the ideal temperature is 37 degrees), so removing the fish from its vacuum-sealed packaging is essential to eliminating the risk of botulism. By opening the package, the fish is introduced to oxygen and the spores will not produce the cells that form the toxin.

Thawing frozen fish also poses a risk for listeria monocytogenes, more commonly known as listeria. This bacteria can grow and multiply on some foods stored in the refrigerator. Pregnant women, newborns, adults age 65 and over, and any adult with a weakened immune system are at a higher risk for listeria poisoning.

How to Best Thaw Fish

To prevent botulism or listeria, follow these safety guidelines for handling seafood from the FDA:

1. If you don’t plan on using fresh seafood within two days of purchasing, wrap it tightly in plastic, foil or moisture-proof paper and store in the freezer (here are 10 foods you probably didn’t realize you could freeze).
2. The best way to thaw seafood is gradually, by placing it in the refrigerator overnight. Avoid cross-contamination by placing the thawing seafood far away from any fresh produce items.
3. If you need to thaw a piece of fish quickly, place it in a zip-top bag and immerse in cold water. If you plan on cooking the fish immediately after thawing, you can use the defrost setting on the microwave but only to the point that the fish is icy but pliable.
4. Never thaw any frozen meat or seafood on the counter at room temperature.

Thanks to that mysterious seafood-section worker at the grocery store to tipping me — and now you — off to this vital information!

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