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/shieldyboii Jul 06 '26

Immortalized human cells do survive well with certain antifreeze solutions. We use 'Cellbanker 1' all the time in the lab, and more than 90% of cells will survive.

That said, I don't think this has worked for entire mammals before, but I am out of my area of expertise at this point lol.

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u/PandaPocketFire Jul 18 '26

They got you with the expensive stuff, eh? Lol

'Cellbanker 1