Pork Concerns

[tigercub50]

I took a pork joint out of the freezer yesterday & left it on a plate, still wrapped in plastic. The kitchen wasn’t particularly warm as we had the bunnies in the house so turned the heating right down. It then went into the fridge & is being roasted now. I would normally have taken the wrapping off but for some reason I didn’t. If I cook it thoroughly it will be fine, won’t it?

Yes

what kind of wrapping?
normal plastic - would bin in
if it's boil in a bag kind of foil it's fine.

Just trying to remember how long it was out for & I don’t think it was very long

Do you mean you thawed it out with the wrapping on, or you've put it in the oven with the wrapping still on?

The thawing and fridging is fine and normal.

I don't understand what you've done with the wrapping?

Yes it will be fine.

I took the wrapping off to roast the pork but normally I would have taken the plastic wrapping off whilst I was defrosting the meat, to let it breathe.

It smelt fine when I took it out of the fridge

I never take wrapping off to defrost. Ever.

I never take wrapping off to defrost. Ever.

Why not?

Why would I? I don’t want uncovered raw meat sitting out in the kitchen or dripping in the fridge.

Me neither silver. Defrost in the packaging then remove to cook. It will be fine.

Sorry that was a reply to wolfie

Why would I?

Dunno, you just seemed very assertive! I don't have an issue with raw meat - if it's on a plate it doesn't drip. And packaged meat has been known to leak....

I've never taken packaging off meat to defrost, I also say 'why would I?', but that's a genuine question? Why wouldn't you leave it in its protective 'shield'?

Meat breathing would only encourage bacteria rather than discourage - though I don't think you'd have a thing to worry about either way in this case

The only time I'd want it to 'breathe' (it's dead, so it ain't breathing afaik) would be if it had the skin on and I wanted it to be as dry as possible for crackling. OP there is nothing whatsoever for you to worry about. As long as the meat is cooked to the correct internal temperature, it will be fine.

I literally can’t fathom why you’re concerned about this, I never take meat out of the packaging to thaw.

Of course it will be fine!

If I cook it thoroughly it will be fine, won’t it?

No. It's dead.

it's best to keep meat covered to protect it from airborne bacteria.

Why would I? Because I can’t see any logical reason why I would need to remove the wrapping. To cook? Yes. But to defrost? Why?

But to defrost? Why?
If the food is still in the polystyrene tray, it acts as an insulator and means it take longer to defrost.

I take stuff out of the supermarket packaging before freezing it, and put it in a freezer bag instead.

A friend of mine took some pork out of the freezer then went to work for the day, so it was sitting at room temperature for 9 hours. She ate it and had horrendous food poisoning.

That's a normal way to defrost meat though. She likely got the food poisoning from the cooking process or something else she ate.

The meat would have been much much cooler than room temperature for most of that time.

I think if a frozen piece of pork was left at room temp for 9 hours and then gave food poisoning its quite likely it was bad before it went into the freezer. Joint of pork would barely be defrosted in 9 hours let alone spent hours in the temperature danger zone.