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I have an unopened package of bloodworms that defrosted completely. Is it safe for me to refreeze them and later feed them to my fish?

At work one time when our freezer broke, all the frozen foods defrosted. Because we order in bulk and to throw out all the food would be a waste of money, we just refroze them and continued using them.

None of the fish refused to eat the food or became sick from eating it, so I would say that it is safe to refreeze it.

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

not sure, possibly depends how they defrosted and for how long. if it was from the car ride home will probably be ok, but if you left it out over night i would not risk my fish for a couple of dollars.

chris

They should be ok, unless that is you boiled them in the defrosting process (ie. they were left in the car for awhile in the heat) I left a batch out one night by accident and didn't notice till morning...chunked them back in the freezer and all was ok...the fishies ate them, and nothing happened to the fishies, so all was fine...now if they got extremely hot I'd chunk them in the trash, otherwise, freeze and be careful next go round heidi

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well the packages normaly tell you not to, but if corry addicted had no probs with it than i can't see a big prob with it mind you i wouldn't do it anyway if a had a choice

Cost of new packet of bloodworms?
Cost of restocking tank?


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The answer is a big NONO. Reason being when frozen foods defrost and gets to a certain temperature "can" set in, also the food becomes frost bitten and looses its natural flavour and food qualities.

Would you eat refrozen food? so why feeed it to your pets.

This is totally different to thawed out food, and cooking it then freezing it for storage, this is a safe food practice.

Keith

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keith,

where would the "food qualities" go? The foil package remained unopened right? The package was only defrosted right? not cooked? If it was only defrosted, the bloodworms and the water they were packed in only underwent a physical change, from frozen to unfrozen. They did not undergo any chemical changes via cooking. So, how would the food qualities escape the foil packaging?

The amount of freezerburn is also probably pretty small since the worms are packing in water. Water around the food stuffs help minimize the freezerburn.

Nothing really changed the bloodworms. If they were left out for a long time, bacteria woud start to grow, but if you left the package out for a few hours and forgot about it (I've been guilty of that) and the package was 'mushy' but not sitting at room temperature for a long time, they will be 100% the same.

If the fish will eat them, without any harm, then they're Ok. I don't think that the Bloodworms have gone bad, & so i would use them.


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I wouldnt refreeze the food. I dont think it would be any different than defrosting food for human eating, then putting it back in the freezer. Could be a bit of a gamble whether the food is okay or not and I dont think its worth the risk.
Buy some new food and dont forget to put it in the freezer.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Your nose is the best indication as to freshness- if they smell bad they probably will be slightly toxic, so give em a sniff to check before you put em in.

Simple organisms like worms and insect larvae decompose very quickly compared to fish or mammal meats because of the simple structure of their usually semi absorbant skins , which in turn contain fairly simple protiens that break down quickly. Freezing and refreezing will also cause their cells to rupture even further which would increase the rate of decomposition should they be defrosted again. Basically you would probably get away with refreezing once, but i wouldnt risk it a second time.

The other factor is that no matter how reputable the shop is you cannot know how often freezing and refreezing has occurred before- think of the bloodworm having come from the breeding factory, then sent to a suppliers, then a distribution warehouse, then to your lfs, and then home in the car to you. In the uk for example and other places too, the bloodworms may have been either air freighted, or shipped, which again could mean foods were kept for weeks on ships, and spend hours on docks waiting to be loaded, and in some cases repackaged in the country they arrive in. At every point where your worms exchange hands there was a risk of being defrosted.

Your packet of bloodworm may have gone through 24 hours or more of travel in variable temperatures, stored in 4 refrigerated locations with waits between each and in the hands off less scrupulous individuals before it ever made it into your aquarium.

I dont think a bloodworm that was refrozen after being left out to thaw for an hour will be more toxic than say - a bloodworm that has been floating around in tank with 80f water for a few hours , especially if it remained sealed in packaging.

Lets be honest- a lot of us would miss the odd bloodworm floating around in a tank or caught in plant roots etc, and fish will probably eat them. Its normal for a fish to eat the odd bit of detritus - and to be honest it probably does them good in the long run -ensuring that their immune system stays active. In our rush to sterilise everything we often compromise the immune systems of our fish, obviously there is no excuse for a grotty tank, but a lil bit of dirt will do no harm.

In addition a lot of fish that are not scavengers will refuse them if they smell bad unless they are starving, and since most omnivorous fish in particular are capable of scavenging to some degree, their bodies will have limited defences to such toxins and bacteria that occur during decomposition. Some scavenging fish will eat the most unbelievable crud, but you wouldnt want to introduce deliberately decaying matter into the tank cos you could overload the filter and send the ammonia and nitrate through the roof.

A singular bloodworm will also decompose so quickly, perhaps all useful protiens and tissues can be consumed by bacteria in a few days so this will actually limit its long term toxicity- but what it would do in addition is remove the vitamins protiens and minerals very quickly, this in turn makes eating it fairly pointless as it has no nutritive content. Most stories of toxic poisoning do seem come from people who feed vegetable matter to their fish, as veggies that arent fresh- particularly fruit- rot slowly, have lots of fructose and other sugars that sustain bacterial colonies and fungi for weeks, thus having a much higher potiential for poisoning. The same is true for people who feed meats like beefheart to their fish, and these people should take extra care to make sure that excess food is removed from the tank within a few hours of the feeding.

Common sense, follow your nose, and not to much paranoia and no problems.






Last edited by longhairedgit at 05-Sep-2005 10:03

Thanks for the replies everyone!