Why can't you defrost meat and then refreeze it (without cooking it)?!
Why can't you defrost meat and then refreeze it (without cooking it)?
Answers:
Two things...
1. Freezing and refreezing foods can damage the meat to the point it turns mushy.
2. To a lesser extent, spoilage. As you freeze and thaw, the meat will give off moisture becuase the cells are being damaged by the ice crystals (point 1 above), but the extra moisture can encourage spoilage. Also, freezing doesn't reset the spoilage clock, it just starts where it left off and defrosting can make it worse since the meat actually sits in the fridge longer to defrost vs. having a fresh piece of meat.
bacteria growth
bacteriabacteriabacteriabacter...
Spot on with the first answer.
Unless it's blast chilled from the beginning and kept frozen or cooked after thawing, meat will grow all kinds of bacteria.
two reasons, moisture and air...the moisture is produced as the meat defrosts and the defrosted meat is exposed to the air which introduces bacteria which are usually killed by cooking...by the time it takes the meat to refreeze the bacteria will have spoiled it
freezer burn
If you defrost it correctly you don't have to worry about bacteria, however every time you freeze any meat it begins to break down the proteins. So if you thaw and refreeze meat more than once it starts to become mushy because the proteins break down more every time you go through the process.
Who told you that??
Not true
I make meat loaf in miniloaf pans and been doing it for years.
The meat here at the Holliday market in "family pak" are frozen 3+lb trays.
I also thaw them squish them into a 9x13x2 pan and cut it up into 12 squares and wrap in waxpaper and zip lock bags to freeze the 4oz patties for later.
Clean KEEP it Clean Clean
uhm you can refreeze, rethaw, refreeze as much as you'd like. when you finally cook the meat make sure that you cook it thoroughly. the bacteria will die if the meat is cooked correctly. i don't know wtf these people are talking about.........
i was told you can refreeze meat only if it has been kept cold in the fridge!!!!!!!!!!
You can, as long as you don't leave it lying around too long in a room temperature environment before you re-freeze. I have often had meat thawed out and then something happen I couldn't cook it, so I froze it back. As long as it is thawed but still pretty cold you are ok. But once it has warmed up to the point where it has reached a balance with the surrounding air, you had best go ahead and cook it.
While meat is still pretty cold, it is not likely that it would have become a medium for the growth of any organisms that you don't want on your insides. This is the main concern. But unless that meat has been lying around for a good while and gotten warm, when you do finally use it, a thorough cooking at the recommended temperature should kill off any unwanted bacteria anyway.
Experts prefer to take no chances so they usually issue a blanket ruling.... don't refreeze it once it's thawed. But as long as you understand the reasons, your common sense will tell you whether it has been unthawed for too long to put it back in cold store.
Bacteria!! Don't do it unless you want to spend at least 24 hours on the floor in front of the toilet. And that's if you are lucky!
If you defrost the meat and then refreeze it, you will loose the moisture and it will be dry. Plus depending on how you defrost it, you give a chance of bacteria to set in.
Ok. The experts (like me) tell you not to refreeze meat for two reasons. First is food safety. When meat is thawed, the bacteria present become active again and begin to reproduce. If there are pathogens present, they begin to grow too. Some make toxins inside and some secrete the toxins. Some are destroyed by heat but some are not. The bacteria generally survive freezing as do toxins. So each time you freeze and thaw (especially if you thaw unsafely) you increase the risk of food poisoning.
The second reason is because when meat is frozen, the sharp ice crystals formed pierce cell membranes allowing moisture to escape and breaking down the structure of the meat. This break down permits faster growth of bacteria when thawing by providing nutrient rich liquid as a growth medium. Each cycle increases the amount of this breakdown.
As far as eating the meat, if you freeze and thaw it more than once, the consistency of the meat when cooked becomes very dry and tough.... not very tasty.
So the bottom line is, if you thaw cold cuts sealed in the original package or steaks or roasts SAFELY in the refrigerator at less than 40F, it will most likely be safe to refreeze, but will not taste as good as fresh or once frozen. Poorly thawed meat (say on the counter at room temperature) or meat with a great deal of surface area (like ground meats) is dangerous to refreeze and I strongly suggest you don't do it. Lastly, chicken or fish should not be refrozen because they break down more than red meat and poultry tends to carry more bacteria.