Ground Beef Turned Dark in Fridge

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Ground beefiness is a versatile ingredient that you lot can utilise to brand burgers, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, and so much more. If you have beef in your fridge and you're not sure if it'south nevertheless skillful to use, you can check in a few easy means to see if information technology's spoiled. Just remember never to consume meat that'south gone bad!

Signs That Ground Beefiness is Bad

1. ane

   Check to meet if information technology has turned a wearisome brown or grey. ^[one] Fresh beef will be bright red in color, but it may have a few dark-brown spots in the middle since ground beef is taken from different parts of the cow. Your ground beefiness will plow more grey the longer you keep it. If all of your beefiness is grey rather than red or brown, it'southward all-time to throw information technology away.^[2]

   • Prepackaged ground beef develops a brown color on the inside considering oxygen is not able to reach the center.^[3]

2. ii

   Smell the beef to see if you detect a sour odour. ^[four] Fresh beef will accept a slight odour, but beef starting to go bad volition smell rotten or sour. The olfactory property is produced from gases made past some of the leaner on your beef. If at that place is a strong smell, avoid eating it.^[5]

   • Many bacteria that crusade food-borne illnesses like salmonella cannot be smelled and can be found on fresh beefiness. Always cook the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If you don't feel comfortable eating the beef, throw information technology abroad.

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3. 3

   Touch the meat to see if it feels slimy. Clasp the meat in your fingers to feel its consistency. Fresh meat should break autonomously in your hands easily and separate into chunks. If the meat is glutinous or has a slimy texture, it has most likely gone bad.^[six]

   • Always launder your hands before and after you handle raw beef so you don't spread leaner or contaminate surfaces.

4. four

   Check the sell-by appointment on the packaging. Raw ground beefiness is safe to employ only 1 or 2 days after the recommended sell-past engagement. Cheque the calendar to determine how many days have passed since you bought it and throw it abroad if it's one-time.^[7]

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1. i

   Shop uncooked ground beefiness in the refrigerator at or below 40 °F (four °C). If you program to cook the beef soon, store information technology in your refrigerator. Beef left out at room temperature will start to harbor harmful bacteria colonies within 2 hours. Never leave meat out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature, or for more than one hour if information technology is above 90 °F (32 °C).

   • If yous don't program to melt your beef right away, freeze it.

2. 2

   Cook the beef within 2 days of the sell-by date. If the beefiness has been in a refrigerator the whole time, information technology volition stay fresh and safe to employ up to 2 days subsequently the date listed on the packaging. Make sure yous utilize the beefiness soon after you buy information technology then it doesn't go to waste.^[8]

3. 3

   Proceed raw beef in the freezer for up to four months. Go on the beef in freezer-safe plastic bags and characterization them with the sell-by date listed on the packaging. Clasp all the air out of the bag before sealing it to conserve freezer space.^[9]

   • Yous may start to notice white freezer spots on the beef afterward a few months. These areas tin can be cut off if at that place are simply a few. Otherwise, throw the meat away.

4. 4

   Thaw the beef in the fridge or in a sink filled with cold water. Transfer the frozen beef to the refrigerator 1 to two days before you plan to utilise it and then information technology has fourth dimension to completely thaw. If you want to thaw the meat in the sink, fill your sink with common cold water and submerge the beef. Change the water every 30 minutes until information technology's completely thawed.^[10]

   • Beefiness thawed with h2o needs to be cooked correct away.
   • Never exit the meat to thaw at room temperature.
   • Beef tin can be thawed in the microwave merely it needs to be cooked right after it's finished thawing to avoid any contagion.

5. 5

   Cook ground beef to 160 °F (71 °C) earlier storing or eating it. The simply way to kill the natural bacteria in your beef is to cook information technology entirely. Use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the meat while y'all're cooking it.^[11]

6. 6

   Store cooked footing beef in the refrigerator or freezer. Cooked ground beef tin be safely stored in the fridge for 7 days before it starts to spoil. It tin can too be stored for up to eight months in the freezer. Be sure to store it in an air-tight container!

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Add New Question

• Question

  Froze 2lbs of ground beef on third twenty-four hour period of refrigeration. It turned dark brownish when thawed in fridge. Is it bad?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Bank check the odour and texture of your footing beef. It does modify color as it gets older, but if information technology doesn't aroma or feel slimy, it should still be okay.

• Question

  Tin I cook ground beef that sat in the fridge for an unknown corporeality of time?

  

  This answer was written past 1 of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Throw information technology away if you aren't sure when the sell-by engagement was. It may have gone bad.

• Question

  Is my ground beefiness safety to consume the adjacent mean solar day if I defrosted information technology in the bundle in water all day and put it in the refrigerator for overnight?

  

  This answer was written by 1 of our trained team of researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Ground beefiness should exist cooked immediately after you thaw information technology in water. Otherwise, bacteria could form.

• Question

  I packed my hamburgers in carve up freezer bags and left them on the counter for 6 hours in 74 degree conditions. Can 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

  Y'all shouldn't refreeze them since they probably developed bacteria while they were thawing at room temperature. Always thaw your beef in the fridge or in a sink with cold h2o.

• Question

  What would cause meat to taste sour subsequently it has been frozen?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  The longer you go on food in the freezer, the more probable it is to develop freezer spots that could attribute to the flavour.

• Question

  Is it prophylactic to cook and eat beef that has turned dark-brown? Information technology has been frozen and thawed.

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Meat volition turn chocolate-brown over time. Check to see if it smells or has a slimy texture.

• Question

  Can I boil my ground beef if I am not sure it is bad?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  When in doubt, throw the beef abroad. Information technology is only good to use up to 2 days after the sell-by date if information technology's been in your refrigerator.

• Question

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

  

  DividedGuitarist

  Customs Answer

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

• Question

  If beefiness smells slightly off, will cooking information technology thoroughly save it?

  

  No, it will not. The issue with food poisoning is that whatever baddies are in the meat accept left behind toxins - that'southward ane reason it's chosen nutrient poisoning and not food. If the beef has gone off, and so you can't cook information technology to save it, it must be tending of.

• Question

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

  

  Aye, it is likely to hurt him, but as it would a human.

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• Keep cold foods below 40 °F (iv °C) and hot foods in a higher place 140 °F (60 °C). Anything in between these two ranges is in the "Danger Zone" and will outset to develop bacteria.

• Wash your hands subsequently handling raw beef so you lot don't contaminate other surfaces.

• Always cook beef to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C).

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About This Commodity

Article Summary X

If you're not sure whether your ground beefiness is still good, lean close and smell information technology. If the meat smells sour or unpleasant, it's probably bad and you should discard it. If it seems okay, use your fingers to test the texture. Meat that has turned bad will feel sticky, tacky, or slimy and should be thrown out. You can also apply the colour of the meat as a guideline. Footing beefiness that is brown or gray is still condom to eat, but if it is turning green, you should throw information technology abroad. Read on for tips on storing ground beef to keep it from spoiling!

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