About 8 months ago we had a beef processed a meat processing plant. When we picked up the meat it was all pre-packaged and frozen. We immediately put it all in the freezer when we got home to be sure it stayed frozen. Now I am finding packages of ground beef that has blue and green mold on the meat while it is frozen. How does this happen? We have had to throw away at least 15 pounds of ground beef.
2 Answers
Frozen food does not necessarily stay edible forever. There are some microbes that love (even extremely) cold climate. Such microbes are called cryophiles and can survive or even need temperatures as low as -15°C. There are microbes that show activity at temperatures as low as ~-200°C (http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/Colwellia_psychrerythraea).
However, if you store your food at at least -18°C, most microbes will go dormant and you can store it for a long time without problems. Above that, however, there are several microbes that can and will grow and spoil your food, though I can't tell you which ones in particular. That's the reason frozen food bought in a store (in germany at least) has a label how cold it has to be stored for the minimum shelf-life to apply (often includes a table for minimum shelf-life at various temperatures as well).
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That blue and green"mold" was likely edible ink used to identify and stamp an inspected seal on the beef carcass.
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