When Should I Not Eat Ground Beef

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Ground beef is a versatile ingredient that y'all can use to make burgers, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, and and so much more than. If you take beef in your refrigerator and y'all're not certain if it'southward still good to use, you can bank check in a few easy means to run across if information technology'due south spoiled. Only think never to eat meat that'southward gone bad!

Signs That Footing Beef is Bad

1. 1

   Cheque to run across if it has turned a tedious dark-brown or grey. ^[1] Fresh beefiness will exist bright red in color, merely it may take a few brown spots in the eye since ground beef is taken from unlike parts of the moo-cow. Your basis beef will plow more grey the longer you keep information technology. If all of your beef is grey rather than red or dark-brown, information technology's best to throw it away.^[2]

   • Prepackaged basis beef develops a brown colour on the within because oxygen is not able to reach the center.^[iii]

2. 2

   Smell the beef to see if you notice a sour odor. ^[four] Fresh beefiness will have a slight odor, merely beef starting to go bad will smell rotten or sour. The smell is produced from gases made by some of the bacteria on your beef. If there is a stiff smell, avoid eating it.^[5]

   • Many bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses like salmonella cannot exist smelled and tin be plant on fresh beef. Always cook the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If you don't feel comfortable eating the beef, throw it away.

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3. three

   Bear upon the meat to encounter if it feels slimy. Squeeze the meat in your fingers to feel its consistency. Fresh meat should pause apart in your hands easily and separate into chunks. If the meat is sticky or has a slimy texture, it has about likely gone bad.^[6]

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

4. 4

   Check the sell-by date on the packaging. Raw ground beef is safety to utilize only 1 or 2 days later on the recommended sell-past appointment. Check the calendar to determine how many days have passed since you bought it and throw it abroad if it's old.^[7]

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1. 1

   Store uncooked ground beefiness in the refrigerator at or beneath forty °F (4 °C). If you plan to cook the beef soon, store information technology in your refrigerator. Beef left out at room temperature will starting time to harbor harmful bacteria colonies within two hours. Never leave meat out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature, or for more than 1 hr if information technology is above 90 °F (32 °C).

   • If you don't plan to melt your beef right away, freeze it.

2. 2

   Cook the beef within 2 days of the sell-by date. If the beef has been in a fridge the whole time, it volition stay fresh and safe to use upwards to 2 days after the date listed on the packaging. Make sure you use the beef before long after yous purchase information technology then it doesn't go to waste.^[viii]

3. 3

   Go on raw beef in the freezer for upwardly to four months. Keep 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 bag before sealing information technology to conserve freezer space.^[nine]

   • You may start to find white freezer spots on the beef later a few months. These areas can exist cut off if there are merely a few. Otherwise, throw the meat abroad.

4. 4

   Thaw the beef in the refrigerator or in a sink filled with common cold water. Transfer the frozen beefiness to the fridge 1 to 2 days before you program to employ information technology so information technology has time to completely thaw. If you want to thaw the meat in the sink, fill your sink with cold water and submerge the beef. Modify the water every 30 minutes until it's completely thawed.^[ten]

   • Beefiness thawed with h2o needs to be cooked right away.
   • Never exit the meat to thaw at room temperature.
   • Beef tin can be thawed in the microwave but it needs to be cooked right afterward it'southward finished thawing to avoid whatever contamination.

5. 5

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

6. 6

   Shop cooked basis beef in the fridge or freezer. Cooked footing beef can be safely stored in the fridge for seven days before it starts to spoil. It can also exist stored for up to viii months in the freezer. Exist certain to store it in an air-tight container!

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Add New Question

• Question

  Froze 2lbs of ground beef on 3rd day of refrigeration. It turned night brown when thawed in fridge. Is it bad?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Check the smell and texture of your ground beef. It does alter color equally information technology gets older, but if it doesn't smell or experience slimy, it should still be okay.

• Question

  Can I cook ground beef that sat in the fridge for an unknown amount of fourth dimension?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  Throw it away if you lot aren't sure when the sell-by date was. It may accept gone bad.

• Question

  Is my basis beef safe to eat the next day if I defrosted it in the package in h2o all day and put it in the refrigerator for overnight?

  

  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

  Ground beefiness should be cooked immediately later yous thaw it in water. Otherwise, bacteria could form.

• Question

  I packed my hamburgers in separate freezer bags and left them on the counter for 6 hours in 74 degree atmospheric condition. Tin I freeze them now?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Reply

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

• Question

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

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  The longer yous keep food in the freezer, the more than probable information technology is to develop freezer spots that could attribute to the flavor.

• Question

  Is information technology safety to melt and eat beefiness that has turned chocolate-brown? It has been frozen and thawed.

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Reply

  Meat will turn brown over time. Check to encounter if it smells or has a slimy texture.

• Question

  Tin can I boil my ground beef if I am not sure information technology is bad?

  

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

  

  wikiHow Staff Editor

  Staff Answer

  When in doubt, throw the beef abroad. It is but skillful to use up to two days afterwards the sell-by date if it's been in your fridge.

• 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

  Community Answer

  Your beefiness may have been freezer burned or it was expired when y'all bought information technology 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 save it?

  

  No, it volition not. The issue with food poisoning is that any baddies are in the meat have left backside toxins - that's one reason information technology'south called food poisoning and not nutrient. If the beef has gone off, then yous tin can't melt information technology to salvage it, it must be disposed of.

• Question

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

  

  Yes, it is likely to injure him, merely as it would a human being.

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• Continue common cold foods below 40 °F (4 °C) and hot foods above 140 °F (60 °C). Anything in between these 2 ranges is in the "Danger Zone" and will outset to develop leaner.

• Wash your hands subsequently handling raw beef and so yous 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 non sure whether your ground beef is still good, lean close and smell it. If the meat smells sour or unpleasant, it's probably bad and you should discard information technology. If it seems okay, utilise your fingers to examination the texture. Meat that has turned bad will feel gummy, tacky, or slimy and should exist thrown out. Y'all tin can besides utilise the color of the meat as a guideline. Ground beef that is chocolate-brown or grayness is still safety to eat, but if it is turning dark-green, you should throw it away. Read on for tips on storing footing beef to keep it from spoiling!

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