thawed and refrozen meats in LOS

[jaideeguy]

We usually buy our meat at Makro for a week's supply when we can and it goes directly in our cooler with ice immediately, then at home, it goes directly into the freezer. I have seen that most meat in all the superstores gets shipped to them frozen, they then thaw it and sell it as fresh. When I can, I'll go for frozen, but with the general lack of concern for food safety and the general lack of organization and equipment, who knows how many times that chicken or cut of pork has been thawed and refrozen before it gets on the shelves.

There was a thread in the CM thaivisa forum about all the freezers in the old Makro going down overnight, then the same products were still on sale the next day. That makro on the superhiway has always stunk from the meat and sea food areas and you can notice it upon entrance. The new Makro is a lot better smelling, but who knows what goes on behind the scenes at any of the outlets??

I've always heard that it's unsanitary practice to refreeze meat that has been frozen, then thawed, then refrozen..........are we taking chances by refreezing our meat for just a few days??

[worgeordie]

I also buy my meat at Makro, Chicken,Pork (sliced and minced),and got some nice Alaska Pollack fillets

the other day.

The reason I buy it at Makro is its been processed at the factory,and packed then hopefully quickly frozen ,

and delivered by refrigerated trucks (not sure) to Makro, so really theres less chance of contamination.

At the entrance to our MooBahn theres a shop that sells fresh pork products,they get delivery in an

ordinary truck, and the bags of pork go straight on the floor, markets are even worse,don't seem to

have any notion of hygiene,also seem a truck load of chicken meat been delivered to a wholesaler

at the market, just an ordinary truck with a sheet on, some ice thrown over the meat, when the sheet

was taken off the smell ,was terrible.

So taken it all in to consideration Makro is the best for me, I don't thaw the meat out, have an axe

and a hammer and just chop off what i need. but of all my time here (touch wood) i have only had

food poisoning once ,fried rice with squid and shrimps and that was many years ago.

regards Worgeordie

[jaideeguy]

So WG, you're saying that you buy fresh meats fresh from Makro [except for the Pollack frozen fish], then freeze it in big lots and whack off what you need from the frozen chunk??

We used to get that Alaskan Pollack up here in CM, but I haven't seen it in months. Another good frozen fish that Makro sells is Hoki.....another deep cold water fish that freezes well and I trust the imported fish much more than the local meat as I know their standards are higher and you can easily tell if it has thawed and been refrozen.

[meatboy]

i have been posting about this for quite awhile,my wf.notices more as she used to be a catering supervisor and many times spoke to staff at the stores the last being home fresh when half a loin of pork chops where still frozen.i did some research on refreezing meat and was suprised to read that as long it has not been displayed at temp.above 5 its ok.to be re.-frozen.i buy most times enough for 2-4weeks at makro and find that it ok.but tesco we have stopped buying meat.just go early morning and you will see frozen on top of defrosted[chicken] and hrs.later the counter trays are full of water.imagine meat left in the trays that have dirty water and blood in them, then at the end of the shift scooped up and back in the freezer,the staff wouldnt have a clue what stock rotation means,or the meaning of fresh food.although i have never been ill eating meat in thailand its what might happen if you dont take care something that is not practiced here.

[anon210]

I noticed that as well... A few weeks ago I had published a pick about the chain of cold by a famous fast-food chain that left its congealed wares to unfreeze on the street... and I see that at Big C, stinky meat is put back to the freezer come the evening.

[cardholder]

i have been posting about this for quite awhile,my wf.notices more as she used to be a catering supervisor and many times spoke to staff at the stores the last being home fresh when half a loin of pork chops where still frozen.i did some research on refreezing meat and was suprised to read that as long it has not been displayed at temp.above 5 its ok.to be re.-frozen.i buy most times enough for 2-4weeks at makro and find that it ok.but tesco we have stopped buying meat.just go early morning and you will see frozen on top of defrosted[chicken] and hrs.later the counter trays are full of water.imagine meat left in the trays that have dirty water and blood in them, then at the end of the shift scooped up and back in the freezer,the staff wouldnt have a clue what stock rotation means,or the meaning of fresh food.although i have never been ill eating meat in thailand its what might happen if you dont take care something that is not practiced here.

This is the whole point. As long as meat is kept below 5 degrees then there should be no issues with freezing/re-freezing.

However, I would have little confidence in the Thais to understand and implement this.

I agree that Makro appears to be as good as anybody and they do have a cold room where the fresh meats are kepty before going on display.

[ignis]

Yes I was brought up with the practice to refreeze meat that has been frozen before is a big NO......

Makro has a big turn over and found there meat fine, buy some to freeze every month........... Supermarkets on the other hand, go when they open most meat is in trays frozen, go late in the day, yes the trays are full of water, chicken going green, and slimy ...

What I do find odd, 6 km down the road from my Village is a very big stall on the side of the road that sells nothing but meat, is very good any time of the day... they open at 11 am and close at 8 pm, the meat arrives NOT Frozen in many big bags on the back of a open pickup, even late in the day there is no smell, the meat look fresh, the Beef is the best I have ever tasted.. Buy most meat from there for past 9 years.. they no not sell chicken.

Always remember my shook about 12 years ago seeing meat sat in plastic bags in the back of a open pickup's in the sun...

[xen]

i have been posting about this for quite awhile,my wf.notices more as she used to be a catering supervisor and many times spoke to staff at the stores the last being home fresh when half a loin of pork chops where still frozen.i did some research on refreezing meat and was suprised to read that as long it has not been displayed at temp.above 5 its ok.to be re.-frozen.i buy most times enough for 2-4weeks at makro and find that it ok.but tesco we have stopped buying meat.just go early morning and you will see frozen on top of defrosted[chicken] and hrs.later the counter trays are full of water.imagine meat left in the trays that have dirty water and blood in them, then at the end of the shift scooped up and back in the freezer,the staff wouldnt have a clue what stock rotation means,or the meaning of fresh food.although i have never been ill eating meat in thailand its what might happen if you dont take care something that is not practiced here.

Have to agree with you about Tesco. I am cursed with a sensitive nose and at some Tescos i could not go anywhere near the "fresh food " section without wanting to dry reach so my gf would go off and buy the veggies and groceries etc and i would have to remain lurking around the shampoos and cosmetic section aisles which is boring as hell but halfway between the smell of the bad meat and the idiots wanting to show how bad a sound system is with the bass cranked up at the other end of the store . Now days we just don't go to Tesco at all. I don't think the Tesco management could give a f**** whether they loose or poison another customer.

[jaideeguy]

In our moobaan, there is a pork vendor that wakes up at 4am every morning and drives directly to the slaughterhouse and buys the meat, then returns and sells the meat freshly slaughtered and just whacks off what you want and that, we take directly to the freezer at home.........after reading and seeing how the large superstores treat their meat, I'm going to start buying from our small vendor more. Admittedly her whacked meat is not as attractive as makro's, she uses a machete for the bone, but I can re trim it and use the trimmings for soup, etc.

Worgeordie mentioned buying large chunks and freezing them, then whacking what you need off for the day with a machete. I have a battery powered sawzall with a new blade that I could dedicate to my meat and get clean cuts.

[sikishrory]

it's true. thais will refreeze anything 2 or 3 times without a second thought.

this applies to suppliers as well.

i used to work on a popular tourist island and have seen the meat arrive from the mainland thawed then picked up by the islands suppliers and refrozen.

so your doomed already.

it's not a great practise but can't say i have known anyone to get sick from it.

lets face it eating sundried meats, seafood, bugs and fish guts isn't great either.

it's just the way things are

[jaideeguy]

The further you live off the mainstream, the more times the meat has changed hands and/or thawed in transit. We're all playing 'Russian roulette' in that one day that bullet will get us. The truth is that there are only a handfull of corporate suppliers and soo many vendors and the altho the corporate suppliers probably follow the rules, who knows what happens after it leaves their hands??

I think that the safest way to buy your meat is as direct as you can from the suppliers, then you be responsible for the storage/sanitation and handling.