Defrosting ...

Defrosting during the Cooking Process

Can be used for small food items, e.g. frozen chips/vegetables or other foods where manufacturers recommend cooking from frozen.

Defrosting in the Refrigerator

Safest method of defrosting food as it keeps food out of the Danger Zone. It is important to remove wrappers from food and giblets from poultry before placing in the refrigerator. When defrosting meat, fish or poultry in the refrigerator, the items must be placed on the bottom shelf on a covered plate. Raw meat should be stored at the bottom of the refrigerator for two reasons:

• In some refrigerators, e.g., those without a fan, it is the coldest part of the refrigerator as cold air sinks and hot air rises.
• If the meat juices drip from the container, it will not fall on another food and contaminate it. Ideally this should not happen as the container should be leak proof but as an added safety measure the bottom shelf should be used in case the container is not 100% leak proof.