What is Freezer Burn, How Does it Happen and Can You Avoid It?

How many times have you frozen a juicy steak and found it dry, dark and decidedly unappealing? What happened to the fish fillet that was firm and shiny before entering the freezer? The answer is "freezer burn" , also commonly called "ice burned food": a very common phenomenon linked to incorrect food preservation, or an oxidation process due to the presence of oxygen in the bag or pouch in which we freeze the food.

Why does it happen and how to avoid it? Is freezer burn dangerous? Does it compromise the flavor or healthiness of food? Here's everything you need to know about freezer burn, including chemical reactions, strange colors, and a few tricks to avoid freezer burn.

What is Freezer Burn?

Freezer burn, literally "cold burn", is a phenomenon linked to incorrect food storage in the freezer. Linked to an oxidation process, freezer burn particularly affects meat and fish: a phenomenon that occurs on foods that, if not stored correctly, lose surface humidity. When we store food in a non-hermetically sealed state, the air that enters or remains inside the bag or container triggers an oxidation process, while the water (naturally present in all food) passes from the liquid state to the gaseous state and "leaves" the food.

Recognizing freezer burn is very simple: the surface of your steak or fish fillet will have a dry and discolored appearance, with dark, grayish veins, in short, not particularly inviting.

Is freezer burnt food safe? The bad news is that freezer burn is certainly not nice to look at and, clearly, the flavor and texture of the food will have changed slightly. The good news is that freezer burn does not compromise the healthiness of the food: consuming freezer burnt food is not dangerous for our health, it will be enough to consume it only after having cooked it.

Cold Burn: Causes and Solutions

Freezer burn is a very common phenomenon that can easily be avoided. As we have seen, the cause of freezer burn can be traced back to incorrect food storage. Storage but not only: freezer burn can also appear after a thermal shock, a change in the freezer temperature.

How to avoid it? To prevent the cold from burning our food, it is important to follow some rules:

• store food so that the bags adhere perfectly to the surface, thus avoiding contact with the air ( vacuum storage is ideal for this reason);
• it is advisable to always keep the freezer quite full;
• do not cause sudden changes in temperature by freezing too many foods at room temperature at the same time: when we put them all in the freezer together, the internal temperature will tend to rise first and then return to its previous point.

Last but not least: it is important to remember that freezing food does not mean making it eternal. Over time, even perfectly preserved foods can start to dehydrate and lose some of their flavor: after a few months, they will have to be consumed.