Is this hamburger meat bad?

Question

I bought a whole bunch of hamburger meat at the grocery store because it was on sale, and put it into the fridge so I can separate it and put it in freezer bags before I put it into the freezer. Well, I put doing this off until about 2 days later when. At this point the meat was just starting to turn brown. I hurried up and put it in the freezer. I've been iffy about using it because is sitting in the freezer half red half brown. I just now put it on defrost and smelled it because I was going to make meat loaf. There's only a slight odor. Is it safe to eat or should I pitch it?

Answer 1

if your even questioning it at all id pitch it. will you really beable to enjoy it thinking about it the whole time in the back of your head making u sick in the long run anyways

Answer 2

It is probably ok, but if you have any question at all, I wouldn't touch it. You say it has a slight odor - is it a sour smell or is it just the way meat normally smells? My bet is that 2 days in the fridge didn't really hurt it, and it is normal for it to turn a light brown (after all the red color is food coloring anyway).

Answer 3

As long as it was put in the freezer b4 the expiration date you should be fine. And the only reason you're not accustomed to seeing meat turn brown is because most meat now is treated with carbon monoxide(?) to keep the surface looking red so it LOOKS fresher. Brown does not mean bad. The date is more important.

Answer 4

The red meat turns brown when it comes in contact with the air. If you are in doubt throw it out. If it doesn't smell to bad its probably okay, I know I have used it the way you described with no problems.

Answer 5

Rules about meat:

1) if it smells funny - DO NOT EAT IT
2) if it is discolored - DO NOT EAT IT

freeze it RIGHT AWAY, or store it in the refridgerator for 2 or 3 days tops before cooking it.

not sure? PITCH IT, why take chances?

Answer 6

its turns brown from the meat hitting the air - its fine use it! as long as it had not expired before you froze it.
steak will do the same thing...

the reason burgers have to be cooked 100% well done and steaks don't is because burgers are ground and it is all exposed to air before it is cooked.. a steak has less surface area than the ground up steak and therefore hits less air so it is less likely to become contaminated. thats why you can order a rare steak but burgers have to be cooked to at least medium..

Answer 7

If the meat was past its expiration date when you put it into the freezer, I wouldn't eat it. Especially with hamburger meat, you seriously don't want to chance getting sick on that.

Answer 8

Odor is caused by bacteria. The more bacteria, the stronger the odor. Bacteria is NOT a good thing to be growing on stuff you're planning on eating.

I believe on erring on the side of caution...so I'd advise pitching it.

Answer 9

I would pitch it I made that same mistake a week ago guess who was on the toilet from 3:00 til 5:30 A.M. chills and vomiting I won't do that any time soon again

Answer 10

The best rule of thumb here is "When in doubt throw it out" It is so much better to be safe than sorry especially when it comes to meat.

Answer 11

Brown isn't necessarily bad, but if it doesn't pass the sniff test, toss it!

And remember, when meat is on sale, it's because it's going out of date.