replied to zxcvbob:

>> That being said, I don't know if a crockpot provides enough energy to
>> heat the exterior of a roast out of the danger zone while the interior
>> is still frozen -- or to thaw the whole thing quickly enough that it
>> thaws and then moves out of the danger zone before the surface can
>> spoil. The worst case is that the surface bacteria grow explosively
>> and are then killed by the heat, but were active long enough to ruin the
>> taste of the meat and *perhaps* produce heat-stable toxins. For
>> example, staphylococcus toxin is heat-stable.
>
> How much heat and how stable? I've never heard that before. Do you have
> some more info? Now with Mad Cow disease, those prions are
> indestructible but that's another issue. That's scary. Even
> sterilization in an autoclave won't get rid of Mad Cow's prions.

He was talking about the toxins thrown off by the bacteria, not about the
bacteria themselves. From
http://www.nzfsa.govt.nz/science/dat...cus-aureus.pdf

"Toxins are extremely resistant to heat. For example, the D time of
enterotoxin B at 149°C is 100 min at an a(w) of .99 and 225 min at an a(w)
of .90."

Bob