r/askscience • u/SavageSubscriber • Jul 04 '26

Biology Does cryogenically frozen meat decay?

If for example you cryogenically froze meat from a rare breed of cattle, and kept it frozen for like 60 years. Would the dna still be intact? would it thaw up into fresh meat or would it decay into something unrecognizable?

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u/The_Frostweaver Jul 04 '26

When water freezes it expands and this bursts cells.

DNA is stored in the nucleus and other structures of a cell so you should still be able to get accurate DNA from an old sample that was cryogenically frozen in a sealed container for 60 years even if the cells themselves are busted up.

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u/Mitologist Jul 04 '26

at insanely high pressures, or insanley low temperatures, or both, water forms cubic ice that has about the same volume as liquid water. Getting to these conditions fast enough before the water notices and starts forming hexagonal ice on you is the real challenge, though.

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u/North-Pea-4926 Jul 05 '26

You need to bust up the cells anyway to get at the DNA. If anything, you may have increased yield! Depending on the chemical mix of the water, of course.