/oss/taxonomy/term/3373/all en /oss/article/nutrition-you-asked/should-i-be-nervous-when-refreezing-food <p>The concern about refreezing food is really a concern about two things, bacterial contamination and deterioration of texture and flavour. Let’s deal with the safety issue first. Bacteria like to dine on the same kinds of things as we do and therefore are often found on our foods. They also need water to survive, so they find moist environments particularly hospitable. Dry foods like salt, sugar and rice are rarely contaminated by bacteria. The presence of bacteria in a food, however, is not enough to make us sick.</p> Thu, 22 Nov 2018 17:00:00 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7459 at /oss /oss/article/health/can-previously-frozen-thawed-and-cooked-food-be-refrozen <p>Most foods previously frozen, thawed and then cooked can be refrozen as long as they have not been sitting at room temperature for more than two hours. Remember that freezing does not kill bacteria, only prevents the microbes from multiplying. So thawed food will have some bacteria that can multiply at room temperature, meaning that if the food is refrozen, there will be an increase in bacterial count by the time it is thawed again. This becomes a non-issue if the thawed food is reheated to an internal temperature of 75 degrees C.</p> Thu, 16 Aug 2018 17:50:12 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7311 at /oss