What are the safety hazards of re-freezing beef, pork and poultry that thawed out due to power outage?!


Question: What are the safety hazards of re-freezing beef, pork and poultry that thawed out due to power outage!?
Our area got hit with Ike after it was downgraded to a tropical storm and we lost power for 2 1/2 days!. Once power was restored, I started cooking all the thawed out beef, pork and poultry from the freezer!. Once cooked, I packaged the prepared dishes and stored them in the freezer!.

My mother in law laughed at me for going to this trouble and argued that if the meat was still cool to the touch, it was safe to re-freeze!. I argued with her that it was not worth it to take the risk!. I don't plan on eating with her anytime soon, either!

Who's right!? Why!? What are the safety hazards of re-freezing meat, pork and poultry that thawed out due to power outage!? Links would be nice -- thank you!.Www@FoodAQ@Com


Answers:
If the meat was as cold as if it had been defrosted in the refrigerator then it is OK to refreeze!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

Health wise you have taken the correct measures but it is possible that it wasn't necessary!.
It is a judgement call on how defrosted they were!.
I had a 24 hour outage some time ago and refroze everything!.
The only fault I could find was that when I cooked some fish fillets they went mushy, but they didn't kill me!. Www@FoodAQ@Com

i would of doen the same thing you did but i think you MIL is right!.
if it was not warm after thawing it could go back into freezer - supermarkets tend to sell us items theat were refrozen and we have no clue of knowing but we arent dead so!.!.!.!.!.!.


sorry you got hit by ike!. YIKES!.!.!.i feeling the investment bank crash right now!.!.!.ugh!.!.!.!.i feel like the world will end soonWww@FoodAQ@Com

i had a power outage and i called and checked as long as it doesn't get warm you can refreeze it i did i have a big deep freeze i also had to buy a new freezer (same thing!)Www@FoodAQ@Com

check this website out!

http://seasonalcooking!.suite101!.com/arti!.!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com

I personally would have tossed it all out!. I've gotten sick one too many times by things like this happening, and would never risk it!. I'd rather have the peace of mind and just go buy new stuff!!Www@FoodAQ@Com

From all the cookbooks and food safety I have read I understand that it is never 'safe' to refreeze defrosted meats, poultry, fish etc!.
Because freezing essentially preserves the food by preventing bacteria growth due to the sub-zero temperature, as soon as it is defrosted (i!.e!. back to standard refridgeration temps) the bacteria can begin to mutiply again!. Therefore, if you were to refreeze after 2 whole days you have no way of knowing how much bacteria grew, and then defrost again more will grow and you could get sick!. Just simply not worth it!
You did the right thing, by cooking the food after the first defrost you are now safe to freeze the freshly cooked food!. Make sure you thoroughly chill the food before freezing and do not freeze for over a month!. Www@FoodAQ@Com





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