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Originally Posted by little_tippler
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through defrosting.
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There MAY BE a loss of quality? Speaking from experience, there definately is a big time loss of quality. Safe? Yes. Good idea? No. Many cuts of meat (baby backs ribs especially) are almost impossible to find truly fresh. They are almost ALWAYS previously frozen, defrosted and sold or sold still frozen. So if you know it has been defrosted already, don't refreeze.
Another thing to avoid is "enhansed" meat. Enhansed meat is injected with a salt/water solution which means you are paying $3.99 (or whatever the per lb price is) for water. Not only is it a rip-off, but if you are already cooking them properly, this salt water will make the end product way too salty. I think this practice originated from people who don't know how to cook these tougher cuts of pork (ribs, butt roast, picnic roast). You see it most often in the cryo-vac pork products, but I have seen other offenders like turkey and chicken. Legally in the US, if the item is enhansed, it must say so on the label.