Had our 2nd annual sausage making adventure this weekend and it was a lot of fun and a success. We're learning.

Question: We made some venison/ground brisket, vacuum sealed it, and put it in the freezer Friday night. We drove back home Saturday night and pulled it out of the freezer right before we left (packing one ice chest full of ground meat, others with sausage). There was no room for ice in the ground meat ice chest but it was all frozen anyways. After a 5 hour drive back home, I went to transfer the meat from the coolers to the freezer and noticed the ground meat had a few brown spots on the outside (on almost every package). Is this because of the thawing that happened on the drive home or simply the exposure during the grinding/packaging process? Just curious if this is something I need to worry about and try to prevent next year.

gasman777 was all the ground meat still frozen? 5 hours in a cooler might have some of the top packages slightly thawed on the top. Any cooler should be able to handle your trip home without spoilage. Even if some did partially thaw, the meat would still be under 40 def. F. This assumes that the cooler was closed and the lid tight.

You said almost all packages had the brown spots. Are you sure they didn't have these spots before you put them in the cooler? Did you break one open and were the spots inside the meat too or just on the surface?

Should you worry? I won't answer that. I'm a stickler for food safety and I wasn't there to know how it was handled throughout the processing.

The meat will change color some times. I wouldn't be to worried about it. Even if it did thaw out you can refreeze it, I wouldn't do it routinely but a time or so isn't going to hurt.

Old processor that processed deer for me for years, his wife would cook some if it was questionable. If it didn't smell right they would not process it. If it were mine I would cook a pack just browned without seasoning and if it smells right then use it.

Every package was partially thawed but I'd say each package was still mostly frozen. These spots weren't there before sealing, as a matter of fact the meat that was placed in the freezer onsite before I left for home have no spots at all. We've cooked a couple pounds already, the spots only appear on the outside surface. I didn't notice any funny smells, etc. so I'm going to assume these are ok....