Submitted by Pef421- t3_11dmu6y in explainlikeimfive
teethalarm t1_ja9sb7s wrote
Reply to comment by Spiritual_Jaguar4685 in Eli5 Why can't we refreeze thawed food? by Pef421-
Aren't micro organisms also made from cells? Wouldn't they also be destroyed during the freezing process?
katarholl t1_ja9u0ir wrote
Yeah, some will. However the cold may only cause a biostatistic condition(no/little growth). The food item (let's say steak) is dead and has no way to repair damaged tissue. On top of that, cows regulate their body temperature and don't need survive winters with their individual cells at or below freezing temperatures. Bacteria and other microorganisms do. So they can regulate the amount of water in their cell(s) and have other safe guards to rupturing at freezing Temps. Let's say.... fish are safe to eat raw if they have been frozen at a very low temp for a certain amount of time. Standard home freezers normally can't reach those Temps.
TLDR: little guys are built different
Chrona_trigger t1_jaa03lo wrote
So are pine needles, which survive freezing temperatures without thermo regulation.
They do it by, in part, having less water content. Less water means less ice which means less or no cell rupturing from ice shards
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