Made a large batch of breakfast sausage yesterday. Air temp was 70 degrees. After grinding and mixing each 5# batch it went back in the fridge. These were then portioned into 1# packs and wrapped in plastic wrap. The individual 1# wrapped packs were then vac sealed. From when the sausage came out of the fridge for packing till it went into the freezer may have been as long as 2-3 hours. Should this be tossed out?
Personally I think they will be fine as long as all the normal rules of food safety and handling were adhered too and they are fully defrosted and cooked thoroughly.
I was using fresh pork butt. Boned and refrigerated. Course ground and back in fridge. Mixed in seasonings an ground a 2nd time and back in fridge. Then each 5 # batch was broken into 1 pound packs and wrapped in plastic wrap. They were then vac sealed. time from plastic wrapping through vac sealed took longer as vac sealer was acting up. As such the plastic wrapped 1 pound packs were out for a little over 2 hours until the vac sealed packs were put into the freezer. Quite sure they never reached 70 degrees.
Enjoy! :-)