Will my DH get food poisoning?

[hobnob]

I'm feeling worried, because my DH has just eaten some smoked salmon, previously frozen (when it was very fresh)and it had a distinctly 'fishy' smell. Will he be ok?

Most smoked salmon you buy has already been frozen once. Did it say on the packaging it was suitable for home freezing?

The smell could have been from the changes in the protein structure in the fatty acids, especially as it had been defrosted twice.

But, from a non professional perspective, I dont think so. If it was not fresh when you froze it, I shouldnt think so.
What also matters is how long did you keep it frozen, and at .

last part just disappeared,

should say, and at what temperature. Should be at least -18.

I freeze smoked salmon all the time. As long as there wasn't an unconscionable length of time between the defrosting and the eating I'm sure he'll be fine.

Smoked salmon is actually not a big food poisoning culprit (compared to, say, prawns) because both the salt and the smoking act keep bacteria at bay.

no probably not sorry

is he normally susceptible to these things? Stomach acid is pretty good at killing nasties in less than fresh food.

also, if you eat something really nasty, it makes a very swift reappearance, sometimes within minutes. only less severe poisoning causes the diarrhea without sickness

lol southeast! I wondered whether the food poisoning was the favoured outcome too!!!

Southeastastra, was that "no, he won't have food poisoning, sorry" or "no, he won't be fine, sorry"?!

Thank you for answering so quickly, Q. The fish came from a posh fishmonger (it was a Christmas present)who said that freezing it would be perfectly fine, so I assume it hadn't already been frozen. He said it to thaw in the fridge for a 'couple of days'. I'm worried that I took it out more than a couple of days ago (I can't quite remember) and that DH will get terribly ill and it'll all be my fault. I don't eat fish myself so he will suffer alone.

oh he'll be fine and better for it, lovely oily fish will do him good. i've done things which i shouldn't with smoked fish and the cheaper ones really do go very smelly because the preserving process is inferior.

I'm sure he'll be fine - I think the fishmonger probably just meant that the fish would be fully defrosted after a couple of days, not that the fish had to be eaten after a couple of days.

I'm sure 3/4 days in the fridge would be ok - it was probably semi frozen for half the time anyway.

Truly don't worry. The fishy smell was probably just an unusual/strong smoke. Supermarket smoked salmon tends to be a fairly bland smoke compared to "proper" stuff

These replies are very reassuring. Thank you for taking the time, kind people.

Often, when you buy at the fishmongers the fish has not already been frozen, so it is infact recommended to freeze it to get rid of "parasites". So, in that case I think freezing would not do it any harm.

It is right to defrost in the fridge to defrost slowly, but not sure about "a couple of days". Smoked fish is generally safer than unsmoked fish, so I am still thinking he will be fine. Otherwise, he would probably be burping "off" fatty fish already... If still in doubt, give him a glass of wine....

Thanks again, Q!

You were all right - he was fine.