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Safe thawing and refreezing...A Cardinal Sin?

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 09:23
by Aaron
I think I have committed a Cardinal Sin?

I semi thawed my Roo and my Pork Shoulder to cut up into cubes and put through meat grinder
Then I mixed in my spices ect and put thrugh sausage stuffer
once in casings (natural hog) I baged up into ziplock backs and chucked into freezer.

The next day I had a flash of panic as I realized that I had taken a frozen product...processed and refroze.
Someone tells me that I don't have to throw them out as long as defrost overnight and cook the next day at over 70 C?? preferably 80c

So my question is....do I throw them in the garbage and waste my days work or can I salvage them by cooking up to 80c temp before eating??

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 10:50
by markjass
I think you will be ok. I put up a link in one posting on US food safety that covers it. I cannot find the posting on this site, but here is the link to the online posting.

http://food.unl.edu/safety/safe-to-refreeze

Is It Safe to Refreeze Raw Meat and Poultry that Has Thawed?

Alice Henneman, MS, RD, UNL Extension in Lancaster Countypork roast

The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) advises:

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 13:13
by Aaron
Thank you Markjass for your post.
I took a look at the link you sent me and it does indeed state that with the right precautions I can in fact refreeze meat that has thawed without cooking first.
I can also add that the temperature of the meat that I was processing would have still been fairly cold as I followed all the other practices of meat prep such as freezing the meat grinding parts and putting ice in a bowl so that the bowl with the ground meat was in sat chilling etc
and after grinding but before stuffing into casings the meat went back into the fridge for an hour.
the sausages were then ziplocked and put straight to the freezer.
I shall make sure I cook them really well too before eating but lesson learned here me thinks......i'll buy a cryvac machine so that if I have frozen meat again they will jus be vac packed after thaw and process and stored in the fridge!

Posted: Tue Jan 06, 2015 15:22
by Shuswap
Aaron wrote:I shall make sure I cook them really well too before eating but lesson learned here me thinks......i'll buy a cryvac machine so that if I have frozen meat again they will jus be vac packed after thaw and process and stored in the fridge!
Aaron I dare say that many of us use frozen meat to make our sausage and then refreeze in vacuum packed bags when we have an excess of product. Vac packed product kept in the fridge does not have a long shelf life. For example look at this chart http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/storagetimes.html

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 09:56
by markjass
This is a strange one as it has been battered into me about not refreezing 'thawed' meat. The first time I par-thawed meat, grinded it, made some snaggers and refroze them I felt that I was also 'committing a Cardinal Sin'. It is much easier to paint things as 'black or white'/'must or must not' rather than grey or maybe as these present the opportunity for misinterpretation.

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:44
by Aaron
Shuswap wrote:
Aaron wrote:I shall make sure I cook them really well too before eating but lesson learned here me thinks......i'll buy a cryvac machine so that if I have frozen meat again they will jus be vac packed after thaw and process and stored in the fridge!
Aaron I dare say that many of us use frozen meat to make our sausage and then refreeze in vacuum packed bags when we have an excess of product. Vac packed product kept in the fridge does not have a long shelf life. For example look at this chart http://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/storagetimes.html
Thanks Shuswap for your comments
Your comments have given me the confidence to trust my own judgment here.
I think I have given enough precaution to shrug off my error

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:54
by Aaron
markjass wrote:This is a strange one as it has been battered into me about not refreezing 'thawed' meat. The first time I par-thawed meat, grinded it, made some snaggers and refroze them I felt that I was also 'committing a Cardinal Sin'. It is much easier to paint things as 'black or white'/'must or must not' rather than grey or maybe as these present the opportunity for misinterpretation.
Yes, I agree Markjass
I would not intentionally do this as a matter of course....I just needed to find out if I could make a calculated gamble and not throw out all my hard work and expense...I've now convinced myself that all my other precautions outway a higher risk factor so I'll bloody cook em good and enjoy!

It seems as if there is a difference of opinion in regards to this topic between Us food safety laws and Australian and perhaps England too??
I haven't done too much research to show quotes etc from government bodies to prove a point on this forum as all I wanted was friendly and of course instant advice as I could have poisoned my friends who are coming to diner on Saturday night!!!:)

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 08:02
by crustyo44
Aaron, I have committed that Cardinal sinsplenty of times and you know what, I am still alive.
Just make sure everything that has touched the meat has been cleaned properly and correctly.
Cheers,
Jan.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 08:44
by lrdeer
As long as you keep the thawed meat and fat icy cold and use icy cold water to mix in the spices. I have been making venison sausages and smallgoods for 25 years, generally it is difficult to make sausages from freshly killed Deer due to time restraints or other issues, I always make the sausages from frozen meat, never had a problem and I always vacuum pack the product in order to extend the freezer life which at times has been up to 12 months.

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 17:26
by redzed
According to info on our sister site:

Thawed meat can be re-frozen. What must be noted is that spoilage bacteria has already begun working on the meat in the thawing stage. Depending on how and where it was kept during thawing, its shelf keeping qualities will be shortened, even if re-frozen again.

Two pages of great useful info on freezing and thawing here:

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... awing-meat

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage ... ezing-meat


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