Why Does Ground Beef Turn Brown in Fridget

June 01, 2022 Post a Comment

Download Article

Download Commodity

Ground beefiness is a versatile ingredient that you lot can use to make burgers, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, and so much more than. If you take beef in your fridge and you're not sure if it'southward still skillful to utilise, yous can bank check in a few easy ways to meet if it's spoiled. Just remember never to eat meat that'due south gone bad!

Signs That Ground Beef is Bad

1
Check to meet if it has turned a wearisome brown or grey. ^[ane] Fresh beefiness will be bright crimson in color, simply it may have a few brown spots in the middle since footing beef is taken from different parts of the cow. Your basis beefiness will turn more grey the longer you continue it. If all of your beefiness is grey rather than red or brown, it's best to throw it abroad.^[2]
- Prepackaged basis beefiness develops a brown colour on the inside because oxygen is non able to achieve the center.^[3]
2
Smell the beef to see if you notice a sour odour. ^[four] Fresh beef will take a slight smell, but beefiness starting to go bad volition scent rotten or sour. The olfactory property is produced from gases made by some of the bacteria on your beefiness. If in that location is a potent scent, avoid eating it.^[5]
- Many bacteria that cause nutrient-borne illnesses like salmonella cannot be smelled and tin can be found on fresh beefiness. Always melt the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If you don't feel comfortable eating the beefiness, throw it away.
Advertisement
3
Touch the meat to see if it feels slimy. Squeeze the meat in your fingers to experience its consistency. Fresh meat should break apart in your easily hands and separate into chunks. If the meat is viscous or has a slimy texture, it has about likely gone bad.^[6]
- Always wash your hands before and after you handle raw beef and then you don't spread leaner or contaminate surfaces.
4

Check the sell-by date on the packaging. Raw ground beef is condom to use merely i or 2 days after the recommended sell-past appointment. Cheque the agenda to decide how many days have passed since you bought information technology and throw it away if information technology's old.^[7]

Advert

one
Store uncooked footing beef in the refrigerator at or beneath 40 °F (four °C). If you programme to melt the beefiness soon, store it in your refrigerator. Beef left out at room temperature will commencement to harbor harmful bacteria colonies within two hours. Never exit meat out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature, or for more than than 1 hour if information technology is higher up 90 °F (32 °C).
- If you don't plan to cook your beefiness right away, freeze it.
2

Cook the beefiness within ii days of the sell-past date. If the beefiness has been in a refrigerator the whole time, it will stay fresh and safe to use upwards to 2 days after the date listed on the packaging. Make sure you use the beef shortly after yous buy it and then information technology doesn't go to waste material.^[viii]
3
Keep raw beef in the freezer for up to iv months. Go on the beef in freezer-safe plastic bags and label them with the sell-past date listed on the packaging. Squeeze all the air out of the pocketbook earlier sealing information technology to conserve freezer space.^[nine]
- Yous may start to notice white freezer spots on the beef afterward a few months. These areas can be cut off if there are only a few. Otherwise, throw the meat abroad.
4
Thaw the beef in the fridge or in a sink filled with cold water. Transfer the frozen beef to the refrigerator 1 to ii days earlier y'all plan to use it so it has time to completely thaw. If you want to thaw the meat in the sink, fill your sink with cold h2o and submerge the beef. Change the h2o every 30 minutes until information technology's completely thawed.^[x]
- Beef thawed with water needs to be cooked right away.
- Never exit the meat to thaw at room temperature.
- Beef can be thawed in the microwave but it needs to be cooked right afterwards it's finished thawing to avert any contagion.
v

Cook basis beef to 160 °F (71 °C) before storing or eating it. The only way to kill the natural leaner in your beef is to melt it entirely. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat while yous're cooking it.^[11]
vi

Shop cooked ground beef in the refrigerator or freezer. Cooked ground beef can be safely stored in the fridge for vii days before it starts to spoil. It can as well be stored for upward to eight months in the freezer. Be certain to store information technology in an air-tight container!

Add together New Question

Question

Froze 2lbs of ground beef on 3rd day of refrigeration. Information technology turned dark brown when thawed in refrigerator. Is it bad?

This answer was written past 1 of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Check the aroma and texture of your ground beefiness. It does change color as information technology gets older, but if it doesn't odour or feel slimy, information technology should even so be okay.
Question

Tin I cook ground beefiness that sat in the fridge for an unknown amount of time?

This reply was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Throw it away if y'all aren't sure when the sell-by date was. It may have gone bad.
Question

Is my footing beef safe to eat the next day if I defrosted information technology in the package in water all twenty-four hour period and put information technology in the fridge for overnight?

This answer was written past 1 of our trained squad of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Ground beef should be cooked immediately subsequently you thaw it in water. Otherwise, bacteria could form.
Question

I packed my hamburgers in split up freezer numberless and left them on the counter for 6 hours in 74 caste weather. Tin I freeze them now?

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

You shouldn't refreeze them since they probably developed bacteria while they were thawing at room temperature. Always thaw your beef in the refrigerator or in a sink with cold water.
Question

What would crusade meat to gustatory modality sour after it has been frozen?

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

The longer y'all keep food in the freezer, the more probable it is to develop freezer spots that could attribute to the flavor.
Question

Is it safe to cook and eat beef that has turned brown? It has been frozen and thawed.

This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

Meat volition plough brown over time. Check to see if information technology smells or has a slimy texture.
Question

Can I boil my ground beef if I am non sure it is bad?

This reply was written past one of our trained squad of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

wikiHow Staff Editor

Staff Answer

When in incertitude, throw the beefiness away. It is but good to use upward to 2 days later the sell-by date if it's been in your refrigerator.
Question

I bought v lbs. of hamburger at Grocery Outlet and froze it immediately. Sour tasting, strange articulate colored juice came out when frying. What happened?

DividedGuitarist

Customs Answer

Your beef may take been freezer burned or it was expired when you bought it and you had never noticed it. The clear colored juice may have been a watery mixture that leached out while cooking.
Question

If beef smells slightly off, volition cooking it thoroughly salve it?

No, it will not. The effect with nutrient poisoning is that whatever baddies are in the meat accept left behind toxins - that'south one reason it's called food poisoning and not food. If the beef has gone off, then you can't cook information technology to relieve it, it must exist disposed of.
Question

If I feed my dog ground beef that was left out 2 days, will it hurt him?

Yes, information technology is probable to hurt him, but as it would a human.

Show more than answers

Inquire a Question

200 characters left

Include your email accost to go a bulletin when this question is answered.

Submit

Video

Keep cold foods below 40 °F (4 °C) and hot foods in a higher place 140 °F (lx °C). Anything in between these ii ranges is in the "Danger Zone" and volition start to develop bacteria.
Wash your easily after handling raw beef so y'all don't contaminate other surfaces.
E'er cook beef to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C).

Almost This Article

Article Summary 10

If yous're not sure whether your basis beefiness is still proficient, lean close and smell information technology. If the meat smells sour or unpleasant, it'south probably bad and you should discard it. If it seems okay, employ your fingers to test the texture. Meat that has turned bad will feel sticky, tacky, or slimy and should exist thrown out. You can likewise utilise the color of the meat equally a guideline. Ground beefiness that is dark-brown or greyness is still safe to eat, merely if it is turning green, y'all should throw it abroad. Read on for tips on storing ground beef to go on it from spoiling!

Did this summary help yous?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 2,445,407 times.