Can you take frozen ground meat, thaw it out, and then refreeze it, or is that not safe?

http://funadvice.com/r/3kehibh9ns read that (: my mom read it before because she was wondering the same thing, might be some use to your problem.

I’d like to have a talk with the person who wrote that. That whole post just screams foodborne illness

not safe to refreeze once thawed

The USDA says that refreezing is fine. I’ve noticed that much of the meat I find in the grocery store has been previously frozen. I freeze it again once I get home, and I don’t believe it has ever presented a health risk in my home.

:| ill take your word for it :|

I’m thinking the USDA is much more lax than the health inspectors around here, mind you, as a chef, I offer my advice from a commercial food service point of view, so I may be a little more strict about it.

Ok i have a food handlers card. (which is needed to work anywhere that serves food (i got 100% on the test)) I remember this question quite well anytime a food’s internal temp is in “the danger-zone” between 41o-130o F (different in some states in the us) there is a high risk of of bacteria growing, if you thawed meat it was in the danger-zone, BUT re-freezing the meat below 41 o F would kill the bacteria. Re-freezing meat AND cooking it throughly will kill all bacteria. Hope this helps. :)

It happens all the time in grocery stores. You buy something that was already frozen. If you thaw it in the refer, then decide not to use it right away, I’d put it in the freezer. I wouldn’t if I thawed it on the counter, tho….

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