RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

You can freeze and thaw all you want, the only thing it will change is quality/ taste. How do you think low end grocery stores get their meet? Frozen then they set it out and you buy unthawed. Most chicken is sold to stores frozen and then set out to thaw in the stores. Then we buy it and refreeze it.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

Good point HOTBURN76. I work for a huge food distributor here in Columbus Ohio, and we get in "fresh" chicken" for a certain restaurant chain and it is frozen when we get it and is thawed by the time it is picke and shipped. Of course it is stored and picked in a 34 degree whse. I purchase this chicken myself and it is fine. better than i can go buy at any grocerie store. I see nothing wrong with refreezing meat as long as it has been thawed in the refrigerator. Handling is the most important part of any meat processing , weather it be cooking, thawing,or packaging. I woulkd bet BIGCOUNTRY ate something that somewhere down the line wasn't handled correctly. Remember, clean, sanitary, equipment, (knives, counter top, and any packaging material) and you should be OK 99% of the time.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

So why do you guys think they come up with those guidelines? Everybody wants to take shortcuts including myself.

Hey thats why I say keep doing it. sooner or later, will learn ya.[:'(]

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

Time and temperature is the question 44 degrees for an hour won't bother or contaminate the meet. Frozen,thawed and refrozen or hung for days in the first place are about the same. I also freeze whole hinds and then thaw in the fridge to make jerkey.During the cutting and piling up of the strips I expect some of the meat gets over forty degrees for an hour or sobefore it gets back to the fridge or freezer. Never had a problem. I don't like hanging more than a day, so each to their own comfort level.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

I can see that some people are lucky and never had food poisoning
or they would not take such foolish chances.

Spend 3 days in the hospital with an IV & you are so sick that you want to just die.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

I have refrozen meat before and I don't think its a problem if you use it up soon after refreezing.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

It depends on where it was thawed and if above 40F how long was it out. The danger is bacteria growth on the meat, that when frozen it will still exist and when thawed back out will continue to culture. Don't forget that when the meat is cooked above 160F the any bacteria is killed - so again it depends on how well you cook it after it sits out.

I re-freeze time and time but only if the thaw was in the fridge, or the meat sitting out did not completly thaw out above 40F.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

Another point to mention is that meat from the "wild" is less succeptable to bacteria growth because of the lack of hormone presence in the meat. Farm raised beef will spoil at a much faster rate than venison, moose, elk or the best meat CARIBOU!

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

Goodness gracious you cook your deer roast over 160???? Can you say very well done, very dry?

Most I ever smoke a quarter to is 152F. Thats almost medium to medium well.

RE: deer meat! bad or good?
 

The general rule for safety is, 4/40. The food, no matter what, should not be over 40 degrees for 4 hour total not each time. So if you have fresh meat (never frozen) and it takes two hours to get it below 40, you then have two hours safely later above 40. At least that is what is taught in Rest. cert. courses as I remember it. Also, as far as cooking temp goes, your main goal is over 140 degrees. 99% of bacteria dies at this temp, so for the most part you will be safe. The 1% remaining doesn't die until 190 degrees, which is ruined food.