Cool before refrigerating. Photo by Edward
O’Neil | IST.

That’s also why thawing and refreezing of uncooked or cooked meat and seafood is not recommended. You increase your risk of bacterial contamination when the item goes through several temperature changes.

• Defrost frozen meat/seafood overnight on the lowest shelf or in the meat drawer—you don’t want raw drippings contaminating other foods.
• Let cooked meat sit in a room-temperature container for half an hour; then cover and immediately refrigerate it. Meat that is already at room temperature or just slightly warm can be refrigerated as is.