Never re-freeze a thawed food product

[Tahanala]

I have been curious about this one for quite some time. Why not? The two theories I've heard are:

1- If you re-freeze a product, you'll consider it to be "fresh" next time you'll take it out of the freezer, while it is not. You are then likely to end up with spoiled foods in your plate, and to be sick, and to turn all green, and to die in horrible pain. (You get the idea!)

2- Freezing foods that contain water makes the cell walk break because of ice crystals, and then they'll be more vulnerable to bacteria, causing you to be sick, and to turn all green, and to die in horrible pain.

Is there another reason? These seem rather weak to me. I label whatever I stuff my freezer with, and cook most of what comes out of it. Cooking foods is an interesting process that is said to kill these evil microscopic critters, as well.

Are you supposed to be able to freeze a cooked dish you made from frozen goods? Cooking causes molecular transformations too! I even think it is the general idea about cooking...

[blucanary]

I would imagine that refreezing something thawed would increase cell damage and freezer burn and make the product less appealing. Plus products frozen in a factory are quick frozen in super low temperatures to keep ice crystals from forming. Home freezing isn't nearly as efficient and therefore the product won't be as appetizing.

[Jay Tea]

I think the general consencus on this is that freezing does not kill bacteria, and thawing allows the bacteria to spread.

The upshot is that the twice thawed product may well have increased levels of bacteria, in turn increasing the 'risk' of food poisoning. Yes, cooking food to a T should reduce this risk to negligible levels, but the risk is still increased and a common factor in explanations as to outbreaks of food poisoning, from the home to the restaurant.

[Tahanala]

Thank you.

In other word, I should survive if I'm careful. I don't know about other countries, but in France, all frozen goods carry a label "Never refreeze a thawed product", providing the impression that it is a extremely dangerous thing to do.
Your opinions confirm the idea I had: as long as you know they've been thawed and frozen again, and act accordingly concerning bacteria growth, there is no intrinsic evil in thawed-again foods.

I guess that's why I'm still alive!

[snapdragonfly]

Also, you can kill all the bacteria in something and still get sick from it. The food poisoning pathogens create toxins in the food and cooking does NOT kill those. Would you think that if you left hamburger meat on the counter for a day or two and then cooked it, it would be okay to eat? No, because it would have "spoiled" and would still make you very sick even if all the bacteria were dead.

Plus, the cells doing all that stuff discussed above gives food a very mushy and unappetizing texture even if it were not spoiled. Ick.

eta: here's a good link to a government site listing all the various ookey things that might happen to food, it mentions the toxins caused by the bacteria as well as a host of other blechy stuff.

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache...lnk&cd=8&gl=us

[Sooeygun]

I recall reading somewhere that it was a myth started by Clarence Birdseye. If people were afraid to refreeze, there would be more food wastage and more product sold.

I did find this reference that says if you thaw meat at a safe temperature (in the fridge) you can refreeze. I think that would apply to other foods as well. http://www.afgc.org.au/index.cfm?id=129&ver=8&print=1

[Insensible Crier]

Some things separate if you thaw them and then refreeze it. Ice cream is notorious for this.

[Pseudo_Croat]

Originally Posted by snapdragonfly

Also, you can kill all the bacteria in something and still get sick from it. The food poisoning pathogens create toxins in the food and cooking does NOT kill those. Would you think that if you left hamburger meat on the counter for a day or two and then cooked it, it would be okay to eat? No, because it would have "spoiled" and would still make you very sick even if all the bacteria were dead.[/url]

What kinds of critters found in raw meat can leave toxins behind even after cooking? I ask this because my family is notorious for laving hamburger and the like thawing, being too busy to prepare dinner, and then sticking the meat back into the fridge for another day. So far, none of us has ever gotten sick.

Now, I'm not trying to say you're wrong, but I'd like a little evidence of this. Your link only mentioned the process of spoilage, not the critters that do it.

- Pseudo_Croat

[Logoboros]

Originally Posted by Pseudo_Croat

What kinds of critters found in raw meat can leave toxins behind even after cooking?

I think botulism is the most famous example of this, though that's not a bug you're terribly likely to have culturing in raw meat.

--Logoboros

ETA: A couple of others:

Scombrotoxin, which can be introduced during cheese production and in fish spoilage.
Staphyloenterotoxemia, caused by a toxin released by Staphylococcus aureus, and is associated with raw meat (among other sources).

A good source for more info is this site.