To provide a method for controlling the thawing of a food, which makes it possible to surely inhibit the rise in the surface temperature of the food and normally thaw the food, and to provide a thawing tank for thawing the food.

In this method for thawing the food in a thawing tank 1 provided with a cooler 23, a heater 24, an inner temperature sensor 31 for the food 35, a surface temperature sensor 32, and a controller 5. The controller 5 comprises thawing control circuits 6A to 6C for outputting the first control signal 6a and the second control signals 6b, 6c in response to the difference Thx between the surface temperature and the inner temperature from the temperature sensors, the first control relay 53 for controlling the cooler 23 with the first control signal 6a, and the second control relay 54 for controlling the heater 24 with the second control signals 6b, 6c. Therein, when the difference Thx between the surface temperature and the inner temperature is not less than a value Tc1, the cooler 23 is switched on, and when the difference is not more than a value Tc2, the cooler 23 is switched off. When the difference is not less than a value Tc1, the heater 24 is further switched off, and when the difference Thx is not more than a value Tc2, the heater 24 is switched on.