Allen correctly points out the importance of the patties being fresh.  But,
what is 'fresh'?

I have carefully reviewed all of the publications and discussion made
available to me and have never seen anything definitive about 'fresh'.  I
assume the term refers to deterioration of the protein value (but someone
please correct me if the reference is describing something else such as
bacteria load).

Protein values of fish and meats quickly deteriorate if not frozen, but keep
gradually decreasing even when frozen.

For purposes of discussion, assume 'fresh' means that no more than 10% of
the protein value has been lost.  In time, measured after the patties are
formed, is three weeks 'fresh'? Six weeks?  Three months?

If the answer is six weeks or longer, I will guess that very few hobbyists
or sideliners have a chance of getting 'fresh' patties from a distributor,
so they are potentially wasting a fair amount of money.

Lloyd

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