When we are out of the house for some days, upon return there is no way to know if there was a power-outage in our absence & or for how long there was no electricity. There is a possibility that the power outage was for long hours leading to defrosting of food and its deterioration. Once the supply of electricity stands restored, thawed out foods freeze again and one almost do not notice that they were thawed once or more times. It is known that repeated thawed & frozen food can be really dangerous as foods are at risk of spreading salmonella and other bacteria! There is a way of knowing it whether stored food went through this undesirable cycle. And more importantly one can find out if whether stored food upon his or her return can be consumed or not. Before leaving home for long period do this. Pour water into a cup and place it in the freezer. When the water in the cup is frozen, leave a metal coin or its equivalent on top surface in it then return cup into the freezer. After returning home, before taking out the food from the freezer, look at where the coin is. If the coin is still on top or in the middle of the cup, ir means there was no power failure or power outage was for a short time, so the ice was only partly melted. If the coin is at the bottom of a cup, it means that electricity failure was for a long time, so the ice has completely melted, and the coin sinks all the way to the bottom of the cup. At that point, it is advisable not to consume the foods from the freezer. Do adopt this simple but effective means to check if your refrigerated foods are safe to consume. Happy & safe eating.
Thank you Sir, for providing this one more important information during this summer times and also as lot of food contaminations are going thru... will try this for sure when we going for vacation in summer..
