It's safe to consume but it won't have a creamy texture. When ice cream melts and is refrozen, the water in the ice cream freezes into ice crystals that are larger than the ones normally found in ice cream. It'll taste the same but it will have a weird icy texture.
Can You Eat Melted Then Refrozen Ice Cream? You can eat melted and refrozen ice cream, but you really shouldn't. It isn't worth the risk of the potential listeria or food poisoning that you might get, and it is best to just avoid it altogether.
Ice cream requires the same precautions as other dairy products. If it thaws, even if you refreeze it, ice cream can result in: Food poisoning due to bacterial contamination.
To safely refreeze, the thawed product must have been kept cold at 40 degrees or below for no more than 3-4 days. If food is completely thawed, warmed to room temperature or left out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours, throw the food out for safety's sake.
As long as the ice cream has not thawed out, it will not go bad, in the sense that the bacteria levels increase. However, once ice cream is opened, it is vulnerable to ``freezer burn,'' which is when the moisture in the ice cream slowly leaves, and ice crystals and a gooey surface will form. Yuk!
Get up close and personal with your ice cream and give it a thorough inspection. One of the first things you may notice if ice cream has gone bad is any formation of ice shards (crystals) on the surface of the ice cream or the underside of the container's lid.
Aside from meat, another common victim of freezer burn is ice cream, which can turn a bit icy and scratchy when freezer-burned. Like meat, it's still completely safe to eat. However, the textural changes may be more evident since you're eating a frozen treat.
Refreezing is perfectly safe, according to the U.S.D.A., so long as the food was thawed in the refrigerator — the most foolproof method to keep pathogens at bay, Dr.
Melted and refrozen ice cream tastes quite different than fresh ice cream. This is because the air escaped before refreezing and the ingredients are now more concentrated together. For the same reason cream is sweeter than the same cream whipped, melted ice cream is sweeter than frozen ice cream.
According to FoodSafety.gov, when the power has been out, you should toss ice cream if it has developed ice crystals and feels cold as if refrigerated, or if the ice cream has thawed and reached a temperature above 40 degrees for more than two hours.
This is why refreezing is a bad idea as bacteria such as listeria, can not only survive but thrive in your freezer.
Risk of Food-Borne Illness
Symptoms of food borne illnesses, which often go unreported, usually resemble stomach flu — fever, nausea, abdominal cramps, vomiting dehydration and diarrhea — and may last just a few hours or several days. Illness may be mild or very serious, depending on the bacteria involved.
Do not stir. Keeps fresh in refrigerator 2 weeks. May be refrozen for longer storage.
If you spot some frost on your ice cream, don't worry: It's perfectly safe to eat.
Food Safety Tips
Keep frozen below -18°C. Once thawed do not refreeze. For best before date see base of cup.
Refreezing warm ice cream can be a bad idea because melting completely changes its texture and taste. Instead of the light, smooth, and fluffy treat you're expecting, what you'll have after refreezing is a dense, icy product with a grainy consistency.
For one, you might see a puddling of frozen ice cream down the sides toward the center— melted and refrozen. Also ice crystals around the top seal and edges. That is frozen condensation. Refrozen.
If food that can easily melt, such as ice cream, is stored on the door basket [stand] where cold air is weaker than cold air inside the shelf, the food may melt. If the door was left slightly open, cold air escaped, lowering the inside temperature and causing thawing and melting.
These safety principles technically apply to any perishable foods, but some foods simply aren't going to refreeze well — these include ice cream, cheese and any dairy-based products; juice concentrates; and fruits and vegetables. If you have melted ice cream on your hands, you can always make hot chocolate!
Remember that freezing does not kill bacteria, only prevents the microbes from multiplying. So thawed food will have some bacteria that can multiply at room temperature, meaning that if the food is refrozen, there will be an increase in bacterial count by the time it is thawed again.
Refreezing. 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 thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods.
If stored well, ice cream in an airtight container lasts the longest when frozen, usually one to two months. This is because the freezing temperature slows the growth of bacteria and keeps it from becoming rancid too quickly.
If your ice cream tastes greasy and leaves an unpleasantly cloying film in your mouth, then the butterfat content is probably too high. Try using less cream and more milk. And check the butterfat content using my ice cream calculator.