How to Tell if Cooked Ground Beef Has Gone Bad
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Ground beef is a versatile ingredient that y'all can apply to make burgers, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, and and then much more. If you take beef in your fridge and you're non sure if it's still skilful to use, yous can cheque in a few easy ways to run into if it'southward spoiled. Just call back never to eat meat that's gone bad!
Signs That Ground Beefiness is Bad
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Check to see if it has turned a deadening brownish or grayness. [i] Fresh beefiness will be bright ruddy in color, but it may accept a few brown spots in the middle since ground beefiness is taken from dissimilar parts of the cow. Your ground beef will plow more grayness the longer you keep it. If all of your beef is grey rather than scarlet or brown, information technology'southward best to throw information technology abroad.[2]
- Prepackaged ground beef develops a brownish color on the inside because oxygen is not able to attain the center.[three]
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Aroma the beefiness to see if y'all find a sour smell. [4] Fresh beef will have a slight smell, but beef starting to go bad will smell rotten or sour. The odour is produced from gases made by some of the leaner on your beefiness. If there is a potent smell, avoid eating information technology.[5]
- Many bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses like salmonella cannot be smelled and can exist found on fresh beef. Ever cook the beef thoroughly to kill bacteria. If y'all don't feel comfortable eating the beefiness, throw it away.
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Touch the meat to run across if it feels slimy. Squeeze the meat in your fingers to feel its consistency. Fresh meat should break apart in your hands easily and split up into chunks. If the meat is mucilaginous or has a slimy texture, information technology has most likely gone bad.[6]
- Always wash your hands before and after you handle raw beefiness so you don't spread leaner or contaminate surfaces.
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Check the sell-by date on the packaging. Raw ground beef is safe to employ only 1 or 2 days afterward the recommended sell-by date. Check the calendar to determine how many days have passed since you bought it and throw it away if it's erstwhile.[7]
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Store uncooked footing beef in the refrigerator at or below 40 °F (4 °C). If you plan to cook the beefiness shortly, store it in your refrigerator. Beef left out at room temperature will showtime to harbor harmful bacteria colonies within ii hours. Never get out meat out for longer than 2 hours at room temperature, or for more 1 hour if information technology is above 90 °F (32 °C).
- If you don't plan to cook your beef right away, freeze it.
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Melt the beef within 2 days of the sell-by date. If the beef has been in a refrigerator the whole time, it volition stay fresh and condom to apply upwardly to 2 days after the date listed on the packaging. Make sure you employ the beef soon afterward you lot buy it then information technology doesn't go to waste material.[8]
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Continue raw beefiness in the freezer for up to four months. Keep the beefiness in freezer-safety plastic numberless and label them with the sell-past date listed on the packaging. Squeeze all the air out of the bag earlier sealing it to conserve freezer space.[nine]
- You may start to find white freezer spots on the beef after a few months. These areas can be cut off if there are merely a few. Otherwise, throw the meat away.
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Thaw the beef in the fridge or in a sink filled with common cold water. Transfer the frozen beefiness to the fridge ane to 2 days before you plan to utilise it so it has time to completely thaw. If you lot desire to thaw the meat in the sink, fill your sink with common cold water and submerge the beef. Change the water every xxx minutes until it's completely thawed.[ten]
- Beef thawed with water needs to be cooked right away.
- Never go out the meat to thaw at room temperature.
- Beef can be thawed in the microwave but it needs to exist cooked right after it'southward finished thawing to avert whatever contamination.
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Melt ground beefiness to 160 °F (71 °C) before storing or eating information technology. The only way to kill the natural leaner in your beef is to cook it entirely. Apply a meat thermometer to cheque the internal temperature of the meat while you're cooking information technology.[11]
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Store cooked footing beef in the fridge or freezer. Cooked ground beef can exist safely stored in the fridge for 7 days earlier information technology starts to spoil. It can also be stored for upwardly to 8 months in the freezer. Be certain to store it in an air-tight container!
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Add together New Question
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Question
Froze 2lbs of ground beef on tertiary day of refrigeration. It turned dark brown when thawed in refrigerator. Is it bad?
This respond was written by 1 of our trained squad of researchers who validated it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Check the scent and texture of your footing beefiness. It does change color equally it gets older, but if it doesn't aroma or feel slimy, it should still be okay.
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Question
Tin can I cook ground beefiness that sat in the fridge for an unknown amount of time?
This answer 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.
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Question
Is my ground beef safe to eat the next mean solar day if I defrosted it in the packet in water all solar day and put it in the refrigerator for overnight?
This respond was written past i of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accurateness and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
Ground beef should be cooked immediately after you thaw information technology in water. Otherwise, leaner could form.
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Question
I packed my hamburgers in separate freezer bags and left them on the counter for half dozen hours in 74 degree weather. Can I freeze them at present?
This reply was written by i 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 fridge or in a sink with common cold water.
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Question
What would crusade 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 y'all keep nutrient in the freezer, the more probable it is to develop freezer spots that could attribute to the flavor.
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Question
Is it safe to melt and consume beef that has turned chocolate-brown? It has been frozen and thawed.
This answer was written by one of our trained team of researchers who validated information technology for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Reply
Meat will turn brownish over time. Check to run across if information technology smells or has a slimy texture.
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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 it for accurateness and comprehensiveness.
wikiHow Staff Editor
Staff Answer
When in uncertainty, throw the beef away. Information technology is just expert to use upwards to ii days after the sell-past date if it'south been in your fridge.
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Question
I bought 5 lbs. of hamburger at Grocery Outlet and froze information technology immediately. Sour tasting, strange clear colored juice came out when frying. What happened?
DividedGuitarist
Customs Respond
Your beef may have been freezer burned or it was expired when you bought it and y'all had never noticed information technology. The articulate colored juice may have been a watery mixture that leached out while cooking.
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Question
If beef smells slightly off, will cooking it thoroughly salvage it?
No, it will not. The consequence with nutrient poisoning is that whatever baddies are in the meat accept left backside toxins - that'southward one reason information technology'due south called food poisoning and not nutrient. If the beef has gone off, then you can't melt it to save it, information technology must be disposed of.
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Question
If I feed my dog ground beef that was left out two days, volition information technology hurt him?
Yes, it is likely to injure him, only every bit information technology would a human.
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Keep cold foods below twoscore °F (4 °C) and hot foods above 140 °F (lx °C). Anything in between these two ranges is in the "Danger Zone" and will start to develop bacteria.
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Wash your hands after handling raw beef then you don't contaminate other surfaces.
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Always cook beef to an internal temperature of 160 °F (71 °C).
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Article Summary X
If you lot're not certain whether your footing beef is withal expert, lean close and olfactory property it. If the meat smells sour or unpleasant, it's probably bad and y'all should discard information technology. If information technology seems okay, use your fingers to examination the texture. Meat that has turned bad will experience sticky, tacky, or slimy and should be thrown out. You tin can also use the color of the meat as a guideline. Ground beef that is brown or gray is even so safe to consume, but if it is turning greenish, y'all should throw it away. Read on for tips on storing ground beefiness to keep information technology from spoiling!
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