Out-of-sight, out-of -mind. I’m sure you’ve heard that before. When you don’t see something everyday it tends to get neglected. When things get neglected you don’t notice when they breakd down.
I have a freezer that is not located in the house. That makes it a challenge to keep an eye on it. Imagine my surprize when I checked on it and found some things starting to thaw.
I’m not talking popsicles and ice creame. I’m talking the meat from one-half a hog. Some was completely thaw, some still frozen solid. The thawed meat went in the trash. I don’t know how long it was thaw. The frozen meat was kept frozen in a different freezer. The partially thaw went in jars and was canned.
The thawed food was cool, but I had no way of knowing for how long. Clostridium botulinum causes botulism. It loves low oxygen conditions. Since our pork was vacuum packed at the butcher, it is the perfect place for botulism to grow if it thaws and isn’t cooked in a few days.
Two of the jars did not seal so the content became B-B-Q for dinner and lunch. Thankfully we didn’t lose everything.