Question About Frozen Shrimp

Just defrosted a bag of cooked shrimp, ugh..it appears to have a bit of freezer burn...is it OK to eat? Will it change the taste? The shrimp has been kept in a deep freezer so it never defrosted

CandaceT
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4 Comments

Shae T. November 29, 2017
Yes, it is ok to eat. But there are certain considerations that you should keep in mind before cooking.

Suppose you have semi-burnt shrimps, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t eat them. You need to look at its color depth (effect of change in color) and how it smells.

In case, there is a little change in its color and you notice saltwater smell out of the shrimps. It is probably ideal for eating them without having a second thought. If you want to more about freezer burn shrimp you can check this: https://foodgear.org/freezer-burnt-shrimp/
 

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ChefOno June 17, 2012

Freezer burn is not a safety issue. Simply put, it's damage caused by the surface of the food drying out from exposure to dry freezer air which affects color, texture and flavor. Since the process happens at below freezing temperatures, bacteria growth is not a problem.

 
pierino June 17, 2012
....but the actual real world problem could be the source of the frozen shrimp. We get tons and tons of shrimp frozen from Asia; China, Thailand, Vietnam and even India. The USDA has now barred imports of seafood from S. Korea. The next time you are at Food4Less or Costco you might want to think about that.
 
mbergner June 17, 2012
Although I usually avoid cooked shrimp, I have had this happen too. Its hard to tell if it happened in your freezer or from mishandling at the grocer (freeze-thaw cycles). Anyway, the quality is not terribly impacted unless really burned. The fact that they are already "cooked" shrimp lessens the probability that there is a bacterial issue, just a slight quality issue. I would go ahead and use them. If the burn is real bad, and the shrimp are really discolored, I would skip it, a little burn is not an issue...
 
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