Why is the beef at the grocery store always brownish inside?

Question

At the grocery store near my house, the beef always looks fine--but when I get it home, it's discolored below the surface. My mother says it's fine to eat, and people MUST eat it--it's almost always like that, and they've been open for years--but is it safe? Is it oxygen, or are they just selling bad meat day after day, year after year?

Answer 1

its safe. the O2 is what discolors it, my hubby is a chef. actually meat kept at 40 degrees or below can safely be used a few days past the due date ( or frozen ) I often get the marked down meat and freeze it and we have NEVER gotten sick, just cook to temperature

Answer 2

Animals are breed for this purpose and most are fed food containing growth hormones etc... to speed the process up. Chickens are a prime example of this where from hatching to cooking is approx 6 weeks. Since this has become the norm, if you want meat where the animal was raised normally in a field with fresh grass etc.. then that's organic meat. An organic chicken is 13 weeks or older I think.

Answer 3

The red color of beef and other red meats is largely 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 to form oxymyoglobin, which is bright red in color. This color change doesn't mean the meat isn't fresh or edible. It's just a natural occurrence when red meats are exposed to oxygen.

In steaks and roasts packaged in overwrap film, the color of the outside of the cut is bright red. Within the cut, it is purple because there is no oxygen to cause the meat to "bloom"(term used in industry to signify the conversion from the purple state to the red state in the presence of oxygen).

In making ground beef, some air is introduced in the grinding process. When ground beef is packaged in overwrap film, plenty of oxygen is available to generate the bright red color of lean on the surface. Because there is some, but not too enough oxygen deep within the product, it causes the meat to turn brown. When the product is allowed to come in contact with oxygen, it usually will bloom to the bright red color like the surface.

Polly

Answer 4

I don't really know much about meat but if you are concerned i would ask your meat person at the grocery store

Answer 5

It has just been aged too long, and sometimes its been frozen and thawed out before you get it

Answer 6

It's being exposed to air. That will turn it brown. n