To freeze or not to freeze?

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jessica Hines
  • 31st Fighter Wing Public Affairs
AVIANO AIR BASE, Italy --  Understanding how to properly store food and read labels can mean the difference between enjoying your favorite foods or finding a science project growing in the back or your refrigerator.

At the Commissary, both stateside and local products are offered to patrons. It's important to pay special attention to expiration or use-by dates on different brands. This is due to date stamp differences between countries, which is not always clear on first glance.

Recently, Cass Awalt, Aviano Air Base Commissary story administrator, helped shed some light on these differences.

"It doesn't always appear in the same format, either stateside or on European food labels," said Awalt, comparing two different dairy products with different date stamps. "It just takes a little patience to figure it out, but everything is labeled."

According to the United States Food and Drug Administration, by law only infant formula requires an expiration date stamp, but manufactures still print some type of date stamp on most of their products. In the European Union, by law, highly perishable foods that could present a health risk require use-by dates.

One particular question Awalt has seen a few times is about items that are sold fresh in the U.S. but are sold frozen in overseas commissaries. The dates on these items reflect a use-by date originally designed to be kept in a "chill" or refrigerated section, which can be sold well beyond its use-by date if it remains frozen.

"Some of the items in our freezer section are meant to be sold in a chill-state back home, so they have short expiration dates," said Awalt. "What we see on these packages is a chill expiration date, not a frozen expiration date," he added, which means the product, once frozen, is still fresh for a considerably longer time.

Awalt affirms that all items are flash-frozen by the manufacturer and kept frozen until a customer buys the product.

The commissary and the manufacturer do this so a wider selection of products is available to meet customers' different tastes. Also, many products would not be able to make the long journey to the store shelf without using this process and would expire before they made it to the store shelf.

"We do take some of these frozen products and sell them in a chilled state," he said. "We do this as a convenience to our customers. That way if they need something to use right away, it is thawed and ready to go." He wants customers to know to look for the signs that state the product was previously frozen. That way there's no confusion.

According to the FDA, freezing food at 0° F (-18° C) keeps food safe indefinitely. But when it comes to the best quality and taste, there are some things to watch out for. Frozen foods can become subject to ice crystals and freezer burn, which indicates a decline in freshness, affecting the taste of those post-holiday turkey sandwiches.

When storing leftovers, nutritionists with the Mayo Clinic recommend refrigerating them for no more than three to four days. If you don't believe you will consume them within that time frame, be sure to freeze them immediately. To prevent the growth of bacteria, which can cause food poisoning, don't let perishable foods, such as meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs, sit out at room temperate for more than two hours.

To keep your refrigerator up-to-date and odor free, check out the complete list of FDA recommended food storage dates at: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ResourcesForYou/HealthEducators/UCM109315.pdf