Frozen food accidentally defrosted, good to refreeze?

[ChrisNH]

I left my bag of frozen food out overnight. It is all the sort that is in foil sealed trays like pe mysis. I stuck it back into the freezer but it was all defrosted. It sat out for about 16 hours. Are the sealed cubes ok? Is it ok to feed to the fish?

 

[KingTideCorals]

I would toss it... Unthawing and than getting refroze is not a good idea..

Potential for freezer burn and pretty sure some of the nutrients get lost during this process.

 

[JAC-]

I wouldn't, but I have no experience with this happening. Did it smell?

 

[ChrisNH]

I wouldn't, but I have no experience with this happening. Did it smell?

Sealed so i don't know. I can open one and give it a sniff.

 

[JAC-]

Worth a shot. I'd still be hesitat, but stuffs expensive.

I do agree with Blaine above, there is likely nutritional loss at the very least. I'd replace it as soon as you could.

 

[Pistondog]

I think it'll be fine.

 

[Thaxxx]

I did the same thing once. Brine shrimp.
Refroze it. Had freezer burn. Fish took a sample, then refused to eat it.
I guess they know...

 

[Sleeping Giant]

It's sealed Air tight, it's good to be refrozen

 

[smacbride]

I did this once and re-freezed. The fish never complained.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes. I owned a retail Pet store and many times had shipping delays and food was soft and refroze. I didnt sell it but took home for my oersonal use with no issues. All the liquids, etc are still locked in for freshness

 

[flampton]

I wouldn't recommend it. If there are any bacteria alive (which there are) they would have easily started consuming it and produce toxins etc....

Let me ask you a question. If I sealed a steak, then froze it. Then left it out for sixteen hours would you eat it? What about if I did this with shrimp as well for some extra flavor?

 

[rc1626]

Did this very recently with Hikari PE Mysis. I left it out overnight.....over 16 hours. Even though the cube packs were sealed they smelled awful when opened. I used about 2 cubes over the next 2 days and couldn't handle the smell. Fish still ate it but I did wind up dumping the pack.

 

[jeffrey750750]

Would you eat it if were steak? Nope I would not

 

[ichthyogeek]

Depends on the fish! Fish with not so good digestive systems (seahorses, for example) probably won't like it, since a lot of the stuff has already started to rot. But for the average fish, it should be....okay ish. I'd reserve it for feeding to things like corals, or fish that really don't care (ex. clownfish). If it's gamma irradiated (like Hikari says it does), then you shouldn't have to worry too much about bacteria...otherwise it's a coin flip. Here are two very good pdf articles on frozen food (specifically mysis) that were on FusedJaw (now a dead site).

Unless it was some sort of high grade, you busted your butt earning the money for this, frozen food though...I'd just chunk it.