Q & A Thursday: can you refreeze thawed food?

Posted by kathryn in Q & A Thursday

Next on Q & A Thursday, Jesper asks:

I just had a delicious chop suey bought frozen from my local store, together with rice. On the packaging of said chop suey, is the text “Do not refreeze once thawed”. Why is that?

Thanks for your question Jesper – the answer is going to be an it depends.

The problem with thawing and re-freezing foods

Freezing foods extends their shelf life. While it stops the bacteria that cause food poisoning from growing and multiplying, it doesn’t kill them. Therefore, as food thaws, these microorganisms start to grow and multiply again.

This is particularly true if the food reaches the temperature danger zone of 5°C. Between 5 and 60°C, is the temperature which bacteria love and in which they thrive and grow rapidly.

Therefore foods should only be frozen once and if they’ve been defrosted they shouldn’t be re-frozen. Hence the labelling you see on many foods.

What about foods you buy frozen?

The question of whether you can re-freeze foods that are frozen, depends on the food. Small items, including pieces of meat and fish may have thawed on the way home. It’s therefore not safe to re-freeze these foods. Instead, place them in the fridge and use within two days.

Larger items, like a meal or a block of ice-cream, can be placed in the freezer as long as they are still mostly frozen. Do this as soon as you get home. If it’s hot, then it’s advisable to take cold bags and frozen ice bricks to the shops and use these to pack your frozen foods.

At all times though, the golden rule is, if you have any doubts about the food then chuck it out.

For more on food safety take a look at food safety when reheating lasagne and at this article on the Choice website.

What’s Q & A Thursday

This post is part of Q & A Thursday – a weekly burst of blogging, where you get to dictate the subject matter. Q & A Thursday is all about simple, practical and sensible answers to food, diet and health dilemmas sent in by readers. If you have a question you’d like answered, then either leave a comment or send me an email.

23 August, 2007