So since an early age I’ve been told that you shouldn’t thaw meat, freeze in and then rethaw it.
Or, rather, that eating meat that has gone through this process is risky.
Why is this? What pathogens are favoured by this process?
Refreezing
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.
If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly.
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Does Freezing Destroy Bacteria & Parasites?
Freezing to 0 °F inactivates any microbes — bacteria, yeasts and molds — present in food. Once thawed, however, these microbes can again become active, multiplying under the right conditions to levels that can lead to foodborne illness. Since they will then grow at about the same rate as microorganisms on fresh food, you must handle thawed items as you would any perishable food.
Trichina and other parasites can be destroyed by sub-zero freezing temperatures. However, very strict government-supervised conditions must be met. Home freezing cannot be relied upon to destroy trichina. Thorough cooking, however, will destroy all parasites.
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/
As I understand freezing stops most things growing but perhaps not all. Therefore if you defrost the bacteria grow and multiply but the cooking process should kill off the bacteria load to a limit that means you will not get sick. So…. if you refreeze defrosted meat you are freezing a higher population of bacteria that aren’t entirely dormant while meat is frozen and therefore the cooking process while effective usually will not off set the higher prolific bacteria load in that scenario.
In the olden days, when freezers were pretty pathetic, meat that was frozen, thawed, refrozen and rethawed spent heaps of time in the danger zone (8-60 degrees), in which pathogens can flourish. Some guidelines now pacifically say that things can be refrozen and rethawed with caution.
OCDC said:
(8-60 degrees)
fsm said:
Thorough cooking, however, will destroy all parasites.http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/
most people don’t cook a steak through…
There’s a show called “Freaky Eaters” and one episode was about a guy who ate raw meat. Kilos of the stuff.. he hadn’t suffered any bacterial illness… (of course the want to eat kilos of raw meat is another issue)
Thanks, all.
8-60 is a pretty big zone…
I remember JF saying something along the lines of bug waste and eggs that may not be destroyed by cooking are your bigger worries about consuming ill prepared meat. But we are already bug incubators.. what’s one more?
dv said:
Thanks, all.8-60 is a pretty big zone…
Many toxins are heat-stable, so you need to make sure meat is stored properly before cooking.
>>I remember JF saying something along the lines of bug waste and eggs that may not be destroyed by cooking are your bigger worries about consuming ill prepared meat. But we are already bug incubators.. what’s one more?<<
I expect she was meaning the bugs might be dead, but they leave their toxins behind. Can be Not Very Good.
Whoops, Alex typed more quickerer than I did.
(falls right off my chair after hearing people using the word “toxins” correctly)
buffy said:
Whoops, Alex typed more quickerer than I did.
dv said:
(falls right off my chair after hearing people using the word “toxins” correctly)
turst me…
I turst you implursurtlur