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I've had some bacon in the freezer for a few weeks, got it out and fried it up today, and it tastes like fish.

Is it still good to eat?

  • No, there was no fish in the freezer
  • No, there was no fish cooked on the frying pan previouslyl
Dean Rather
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  • Per the FDA guidelines, if it was safe when it was frozen, it should be safe now. I have no idea why it would taste like fish, though. I've never had that happen and I've frequently eaten bacon that had been in the freezer for months (with fish in the same freezer, even!). – user5561 Aug 31 '14 at 04:16
  • But was there ever fish in your freezer? Smells can linger, and if the bacon wasn't wrapped airtight... – Cascabel Aug 31 '14 at 04:32
  • Has this happened with any other items stored in your freezer? If not, most likely the cause is not your freezer. – Cindy Aug 31 '14 at 11:03
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    More importantly, even if it is safe: do you still want to eat fishy bacon? – buttlord Sep 01 '14 at 05:37
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    The smell of fish could be caused by a bacterial proliferation on the meat. If the bacon was not stored or thawed correctly, chances are microorganisms landed on the surface and found a fertile field to grow. If you cooked the bacon at high temperature there should be no risk but since you're asking if it's "still a good idea to eat it", well that's personal opinion: if I eat pork I want it to taste like pork. – Stefano Driussi Sep 01 '14 at 15:56
  • Is the bacon smoked or un-smoked? – Doug Jan 05 '15 at 09:51
  • Bacon should not smell or taste of fishy amines. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234946 – Wayfaring Stranger Jul 28 '15 at 21:30
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    I discovered years ago that pigs that are fed fish meal on a regular basis, particularly close to the date of slaughter, will usually result in pork, ham and especially bacon (because of its high fat content) that smells and tastes of fish. It's safe, just unsavory. For obvious reasons, I've changed where I get my pork. – Shalryn Apr 03 '16 at 17:20
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    If you can figure out the mechanism and reverse-engineer the process, where you can get fish that tastes like bacon, you will be a very, very wealthy person. – PoloHoleSet Apr 24 '17 at 16:38
  • It might be Bacon from a Schweinelachs :) – rackandboneman Apr 25 '17 at 11:18

4 Answers4

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I raise my own pigs and don't feed them any fish. I feed all kinds of fruit, avos, eggs, acacia tree leaves, red apple succulent etc. All past pigs were excellent and not fishy. I never had the fish taste problem before this"girl" pig. It tastes like fish when cooked. It is like fresh fish, not fishy bad fish. It does not smell like fish or good or bad. I was wondering if it had to do with her having had a hip injury when she was young. She limped and did not run around much. Some other parts do not taste like fish. I keep it in the deep freezer well wrapped with no fish. I ate it and it seems fine.

Adrienne
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When pork tastes fishy it means it's been eating too much fish products like fish meal or other protein supplements which have fish products in them.

Stephie
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user45512
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My hypothesis is that this has nothing to do with fish. However, when fat goes rancid, it can take on a "fishy" aroma/taste. It would be useful to know how how your bacon was handled before you froze it, how long it was in that state, how it was wrapped for freezing, and how long it was in the freezer.

moscafj
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its because the pigs are fed with fish. if you get bacon from a good organic supplier [rmember fish is organic] they don't feed pigs with fish products

Polly Dick
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    If that is the case, the bacon would have tasted of fish *before* it went into the freezer. The asker doesn't mention if they tasted any of the bacon before it was frozen but I'd imagine that any bacon company whose product routinely tasted fishy wouldn't last very long as a bacon company. – David Richerby Jan 04 '15 at 13:15