Food experts please!

Okay so here's what is going down.

I bought one pound of U.S beef from a local store. We tore open the package and found brown meat in the middle. Is this bad or safe to eat? I'm plannin' on makin' tacos.

Any insight? Thanks.

-SAP-

If it stinks get rid of it. If it smell normal. it is safe to eat.

Also, stores have been know to "re-label". Any signs of a second label being place over the original?

reply to post by tinker9917


It smelled fine, but I seen brown and got spooked.

I picture Chef Gordon Ramsay saying "This is so old it's mummy wrapped!".



-SAP-

The red color of beef is due to the presence of a natural pigment called myoglobin. When the surface of ground beef and beef cuts is exposed to air, the oxygen of the air combines with the myoglobin and they form oxymyoglobin, which is bright red.

So: it's alright, the center just hasn't been exposed to oxygen.

Caution! I'm a vegetarian. I'm just also a food geek.

reply to post by SloAnPainful


I would never eat minced beef if it was brown inside, before cooking. it would turn me completely off it.

But that's just me.

My wife is always trying to poison me, but I'm still here. If it smells ok, just make sure it is well cooked.

Coloring can also indicate spoilage. If your package of ground beef is grayish all the way through and does not turn red when exposed to air for fifteen minutes or so, it is most likely spoiled. Usually your nose will tell you right off the bat, as spoiled ground beef will smell sour. It will also feel tacky to the touch. Don't take any chances with spoiled meat. When in doubt, toss it out.

hope that helps,

link

Tacos taste good. I was just curious is all.

Thanks ATS!

-SAP-

reply to post by SloAnPainful



should be. Does it smell right?

Thing is, the red coloring is typically from a dye. The brown coloring is what the meat looks like without the dye. Meat isn't bloody by the time it gets to your grill.


In any event, let your nose guide you. Meat smells bad by itself. But rotten meat? You'll know.

Just make sure you good to medium well. Shouldn't be an issue with what you are cooking.

We always use ground Turkey meat for anything that calls for beef..

can't even digest beef anymore..

Ground turkey is awesome tasting....

give it a shot!

Originally posted by baddmove
We always use ground Turkey meat for anything that calls for beef..

can't even digest beef anymore..

Ground turkey is awesome tasting....

give it a shot!

I like ground turkey. I like it mixed in with beef, or with pork. By itself, its ok.

Originally posted by Lady_Tuatha
reply to post by SloAnPainful

 

I would never eat minced beef if it was brown inside, before cooking. it would turn me completely off it.

But that's just me.

My health teacher had a rule, "When in doubt, chuck it out!" Thanks to an experiment with a closed package of pork chops, I was turned off of eating pork. But this past month after almost 30 years, I don't know why, but I had a serious craving for it. I bought some nice thick pork chops, boneless. Thank God I can cook because it seriously tasted like a steak! I was pleasantly surprised.

reply to post by SloAnPainful


Hate being the bearer of bad tidings,but most meat is so old by the time it gets to shelves,its all brownish .

To combat this problem ,they expose it to carbon monoxide ,to keep it looking red .
It keeps it red long after its spoiled too . I think the FDA allows meat packagers to call carbon monoxide a coloring agent . Yah .
Nom nom NOT.

So ,sniff ,cook a small bit and taste . Pitch it if it tastes off

My advice would be if it smells ok cook the ever loving crap out of it, and everything will be right as rain. To those posters who have been turned off of a meat due to a single pack of spoiled produce... really? Heres the thing, when meat is spoiled before you even open the package, and the package is in date, what you do is this. You take the package to the store, you give them the reciept, you tell them you opened it that day, and then you get a fresh, hopefully not spoiled package of meat in return, and you eat what you planned to eat that day without having a fit about it. Its very simple.

Never let the idiocy of retail meat sales get between you and your animal corpse flesh. Its bad enough all the wheatgrass munching veggies popping up all of a sudden, without people getting the willies because they smelled a bit of decomposition once!

reply to post by SloAnPainful

This happens when burger gets about a day old.
You have something that is not fresh ground, but still just fine.

I used to have to grind burger all the time when I was training to be a butcher
and after about a day the center gets brown,
but there is nothing wrong with it.