From a safety perspective, there is no harm in refreezing sausage -- or anything else -- as long as food safety rules are followed. Think about freezing as putting the meat into suspended animation. It's only the time above 32F that counts. Below freezing, all biological activity stops.
Freeze / thaw cycles do damage on a cellular level and if we were talking steaks there would be textural changes and moisture loss to be concerned about but with sausage, the grinder has already done more damage than freezing could ever do. Defrosting should always be accomplished in the refrigerator so that the temperature never rises above 40F or, if it does, it's limited to no more than 2 hours (that's total time during all unfrozen periods -- bacterial growth is cumulative).
Long answer: if you know a lot about meat, the conditions the meat was prepared in, and bacteria growth, then sometimes yes, but mostly no.
I asked my local butcher about this one. He said (so, not my opinion, but his): if you use frozen meat to make the sausage, make it, then freeze it again within 24 hours, and follow proper food safety procedures, there's no problem. However, the problem comes when it's been thawed too long, germs start to grow and then it gets frozen a second time... there is something dangerous about this. Ground meat is especially good at growing nasties because of all the surface area.
Personally, I've been known to thaw a sausage, cook it really well, then freeze it again. But I don't feel confident enough to simply refreeze sausage.
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From a safety perspective, there is no harm in refreezing sausage -- or anything else -- as long as food safety rules are followed. Think about freezing as putting the meat into suspended animation. It's only the time above 32F that counts. Below freezing, all biological activity stops.
Freeze / thaw cycles do damage on a cellular level and if we were talking steaks there would be textural changes and moisture loss to be concerned about but with sausage, the grinder has already done more damage than freezing could ever do. Defrosting should always be accomplished in the refrigerator so that the temperature never rises above 40F or, if it does, it's limited to no more than 2 hours (that's total time during all unfrozen periods -- bacterial growth is cumulative).
Long answer: if you know a lot about meat, the conditions the meat was prepared in, and bacteria growth, then sometimes yes, but mostly no.
I asked my local butcher about this one. He said (so, not my opinion, but his): if you use frozen meat to make the sausage, make it, then freeze it again within 24 hours, and follow proper food safety procedures, there's no problem. However, the problem comes when it's been thawed too long, germs start to grow and then it gets frozen a second time... there is something dangerous about this. Ground meat is especially good at growing nasties because of all the surface area.
Personally, I've been known to thaw a sausage, cook it really well, then freeze it again. But I don't feel confident enough to simply refreeze sausage.