Subject: RE: re-freezing food

From: [email-masked] (Weston English)
Date: 14 Sep 96 14:14:39 -0700

>From  my limited knowledge for the microbiological aspect of foods, I 
understand that when a meat product is thawing bacterial populations 
tend to grow prolifically.  You must consider that even though the 
food may still be very cold on the inside the surface becomes warm 
enough for bacteria such as Listeria to grow.
When the product is refrozen the bacteria generally become dormant 
again and when thawed for the second time there is a higher culture 
on the meat and will possible grow to food poisoning levels in this 
step.  
The next obvious question would be, When you cook the meat all the 
bacteria will be destroyed and no poisoning can occur?  Some of the 
toxins produced by these bacteria are heat stable and will get into 
your system that way.  The other major danger is if the product is 
then undercooked and served not only are the toxins there but 
bacteria also will be present.
If it is necssary to thaw and then refreeze I would suggest a 
blanching type process before refreezing the product!!!

Cheers,
[email-masked]

PS If you wish further information on this please e-mail me and I 
will research your question to more depth.  At this point I will 
probably do that anyway!