Just about every article or recipe I've seen which mentions thawing meat, fish or poultry recommends thawing in the refrigerator and implies your are puting your family at risk with any other method.

Refrigerator thawing takes forever (4 to 5 days a 16 pound turkey, 8 hours for a 1-1/2 pound fish) clearly indicating long range meal planning as a required discipline for non-toxic cooking.

I fear I have been in intense violation of this recommendation since I start meal planning simultaneously with starting to cook it.

Turns out this whole refrigerator thaw thing is total bunk based on advice in the FDA Model Food Code, advice which offers no supporting research.

The USDA, a bunch of raving paranoid bacteria-phobes, has no objection to room temperature counter top thawing in food processing facilities at 70°F or below. This stance is supported by at least two research projects. Even faster thawing in running cold water works just as well.

In some tests, refrigerator thawing produced higher bacteria counts than the other two methods. Refrigerator thawing is also unpredictable with minor variations in storage conditions resulting in timing errors of many hours.

Further, refrigerator thawing presents a high risk of cross contamination between leakage from uncooked meat or poultry and ready-to-eat food also stored in the refrigerator.

Then there's the matter of having enough room in the refrigerator to thaw anything as large as a pop tart never mind a turkey.

The upshot is: I will continue to throw my fish in a sink in several changes of cold water, only I now can not only admit to doing so with a clear concience but even recommend the procedure.

Ref: [link|http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Thaw-counter.html|Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management].