If Ground Beef Is Brown Is It Bad?

Here's How To Tell If Basis Beefiness Has Gone Bad

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Ground beefiness is a dinnertime staple in many houses, as it'southward an affordable fashion to brand a flavorful meal without having to leap for pricier cuts. Simply if yous've always stocked upwards on several packages of brilliant cherry ground beef only to see that's it's grayish brown inside and wondered if it'due south nevertheless safe to swallow, yous're not lone. This color change can definitely raise some red flags, but it turns out it'south not as dire as yous might think — in most cases, anyhow. Hither'south how to find out if your footing beef has gone bad.

Is ground beefiness that'southward turned gray bad?

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You don't need to worry if the outside of your beefiness is a unlike color than the inside. According to the USDA, basis beef appears brilliant red because of oxygen interacting with the pigments in the meat. If the interior of your beefiness is grayish chocolate-brown, it's probably just considering that function of the meat hasn't been exposed to oxygen, and it'due south rubber to eat.

Still, if all or a lot of the meat in the parcel has turned grayness or chocolate-brown, you should cheque its freshness in two ways.

First, the sniff test. Fresh basis beef may have a balmy iron smell, simply if it starts to smell rotten (beef tends to get a funky sweet odor), you should err on the side of caution and throw information technology out.

2nd, the bear on examination. Fresh ground beef is normally cool to the touch on, polish, and slightly damp. Just footing beef that'due south starting to go bad tin can feel slimy, tacky, or sticky. In one case again, you shouldn't run a risk it if you call up the texture is off — it'southward best to throw it out if you suspect it's starting to go bad (viaThe Takeout).

Any you practice, never eat the meat to see if information technology'due south spoiled. Even a slight gustation of it could result in a foodborne illness (viaInsider).

How to choose the freshest ground beef

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There are a few things yous can practise to make certain yous select fresh ground beef to begin with, which will increase your chances of longer lasting meat.

When choosing ground beef at the store, you should select a package that's cold to the touch, with an intact bundle. Once you're home, place the ground beef in the fridge or freezer right away. For the best results, you should cook or freeze your ground beef within two days of buying it. If you're using frozen beefiness, for the safest results, thaw information technology in the fridge.

Last only not to the lowest degree, you should always cook your ground beef to 160 degrees. It may audio like sacrilege to some, but it'due south the safest way to prepare your meat (via Ohio State University).

What stays fresh longer, basis beefiness or hamburger?

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Ground beef and hamburger may look nearly identical in their supermarket packaging, but they're actually ii different products.

Basis beef can only be made from "skeletal muscles," meaning no organ meat can be included, and it can only include upwards to 30 percent fat, from the beef trimmings used to brand the basis beefiness. Beef fat cannot be added separately from the meat trimmings.

Hamburger tin can also only contain up to 30 pct fat, but fat tin be added to the lean beef mixture separately to create the desired fatty-protein ratio.

Other names you might see on your label are ground chuck and basis round. Footing chuck is a blazon of ground beef that comes from beef shoulder, and ground circular is made from the hind leg (via SF Gate).

The good news is that, no matter which blazon of ground beef you're cooking with, they're similar enough that you tin can use the same tricks to tell if it's fresh at the store, and the same techniques to determine if it'southward gone bad (via USDA).

What to do if your ground beef has gone bad

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Unfortunately, because of the way it's processed, ground beefiness has a trend to go bad or be contaminated more than other meats. That'south because bacteria present on the surface of cuts of meat gets mixed into the rest of the beef when information technology'southward ground together, which is why it's recommended that you cook ground beefiness to 160 degrees all the way through (via Consumer Reports).

But, equally previously mentioned, if your footing beef is sticky, tacky, stinky, or turning green, you shouldn't risk cooking information technology at all. Instead, you lot should dispose of the beef.

To protect yourself against any bacteria or pathogens growing in the spoiled meat, yous should put on a pair of gloves. Leave the meat in its packaging (at present is not the time to exist militant about recycling), put information technology in the trash, tie up your trash bag, and have it outside to your dumpster or trash can. Otherwise the meat will continue to spoil inside, making your house olfactory property and inviting bugs for a banquet (via Leaf).

And then, make sure you launder and sanitize everything that came in contact with the spoiled meat, so every bit to avoid cantankerous-contamination. Hot, soapy h2o should do the trick, just y'all can as well use bleach to make certain you've gotten rid of all of the really nasty stuff (via University of Wisconsin).

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