How is it that you can refreeze some foods that have been previously frozen and defrosted (by a supermarket) but you cannot refreeze defrosted items at home?

Question

Today I bought some food that I had planned to freeze for use on another day. On the back of the packet it detailed that it had previously been frozen but thawed under controlled conditions and that it was safe to refreeze. I had always thought you couldn’t refreeze once thawed. How can supermarkets do this differently to me at home?

If at all contextual, I live in the U.K. and it was a curry.

In: Other

Answer 1

Basically the issue with refreezing is the water inside the food. When an item is initially frozen the water expands and widens the holes it is in, then when thawed the water comes out of those holes and can freeze somewhere else causing damage. This is the root cause of freezer burn. Items frozen under controlled conditions tend to be frozen anhydrously so they don’t have the same issue.