| if the meat was still very cold, but defrosted, and you immediately refroze
it, you probably don't have a problem. However, if the meat was warm to the
touch, even a little warm, it can harbour some very nast bacteria. Freezing
slows the growth of bacteria and, therefore, reduces the amount of "waste" the
bacteria produces - this waste is the problem...it can be toxic enough to kill,
and certainly toxic enough to make you sick. When the meat gets warm, the
bacteria goes on a breeding frenzy and a great deal of waste can be produced
in a reasonably short period of time. At that point, refreezing isn't going
to help you. Only you know for sure how warm the meat was and how long it
was defrosted. If it was defrosted several hours, and not under refrigeration,
I would not recommend you eat it -- and particularly, I would strongly urge
you to NOT feed it to children under the age of 4 or to the elderly...both
groups are very susceptabile to food poisoning and recover more slowly.
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I have refrozen CHICKEN before with no problem. I know that
some people would never consider doing this but sometimes I buy
chicken at the grocery store and it is partially frozen at
the time. If I don't plan on using it immediately, I have to
freeze it again.
BTW, I have been buying White Gem Chicken at Stop and Shop and
often it is partially frozen. I expect that it is always frozen
and then thawed before being put out. This seems wrong to me
since they do not package the chicken with a label that says
"previously frozen". Should I complain?
Karen
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Having worked in the meat business, I was often forced to recite to
cutomers the phrase "It isn't really frozen, it's just super chilled".
Although it sounds like double-talk to me, the chicken packers tell us
that they cool the chicken as much as possible without really freezing
the meat. I guess I'd call it 'partially frozen' as the meat is stiff,
though usually still plyable. Anyway, the chicken cannot legally be
completely frozen and then thawed and still labeled 'Fresh'.
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| I would COOK the ground meat in a nice rich spagetti sauce and then
freeze. That's what I do with thawed out meat (any kind) that way I
don't have to worry.
You can make meatballs, spagetti sauce, chilli, stuffed meatloaf...
there are countless ways to cook ground meat and freeze it.
Ana
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