This meat does not look right...

I got some hamburger meat (ground angus) today at the store to make burgers. The outside is nice and redish, the inside is grey. I thought packacked meat aged from the outside in, not the inside out. Any ideas? I sure aint eating it!

I am not sure about this. Any ideas?

E

 

Check the expiration date on the meat. Regardless of it is is current or in the past, I would bring the meat back to the store together with my receipt, and show it to someone at their Customer Service counter, and explain that I'm concerned for my health if I eat this gray stuff, and I would like it replaced. By very fresh meat.

Yuck.

 

Don't buy meat from stores. Read my blog (This is optional btw)

 

Some places have practices of mixing older meat with fresh.

When air gets to it like that, it turns grey.

Doesnt make it any more appetizing or safe, though.

 

That is what makes it so scary. The inside is nasty and grey, while the outside is nice and pink. I think some repackaging has been done. This store is less than a half mile from my house. The next one is 5 miles away. But I will shop at the best store. Let's see what they say.

E

 

I don't see a problem, most ground meat that I get is the same, grey inside and I've never been sick from it, of course properly cooked. Anyways, I now grind my own from a slab of meat. Much tastier, probably because I worked for it and it was a better cut to start with. Well, when in doubt, throw it out.

 

It's all chemicals that make it red otherwise it would be a brownish color

 

Q Why is the center of ground beef sometimes brown in color?
A 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.

from
http://meat.tamu.edu/faqs.html

 

While I don't care for my brother in law's personality (or how he treats my Sis!), I do respect his opinions as a 25 plus year meatcutter - he says that your grey meat inside the package will turn that color due to the processing and packaging and there's nowt that he can do about it. He even staged a demonstration for me once, quite a few years ago, where I saw the nice, fresh, red meat go into the package, took it home, waited only a day, opened the package, and what do ya think I saw? Same as yours - red on top, grey inside.
Scent is your best indicator - always.
BTW, I agree with Lev = if you can at all swing it, don't buy your meat from a store. I know I was healthier when I raised my own chickens, turkeys, and hogs and traded meat for a side of beef or took a deer, mixed it 75% deer/25% beef and had the best lean burgers you ever had. I hate to hunt, hate to kill, but the deer were destroying my crops and were overpopulated to point of being inbred and a traffic danger.
Finally, If God had not intended man to eat animals, why did He make them out of meat?D
Blessings,
Port-O-San

 

Thanks for the info. I did some googleing, and came to the same conclusion.

"Why is pre-packaged ground beef red on the outside and sometimes dull, grayish-brown inside?
Oxygen from the air reacts with meat pigments to form a bright red color which is usually seen on the surface of meat purchased in the supermarket. The pigment responsible for the red color in meat is oxymyoglobin, a substance found in all warm-blooded animals. Fresh cut meat is purplish in color. The interior of the meat may be grayish brown due to lack of oxygen; however, if all the meat in the package has turned gray or brown, it may be beginning to spoil."

I had it backwards in my mind. I thought the meat was red, and turned brown from the outside to the inside... Oops.

 

I always go by smell,I like the smell of raw beef to me it has a sweetish smell that makes me hungry,if it doesn't make me feel hungry before I cook it I wont touch it

EDIT often you cant tell whats good by looking at it because supermarkets especially put red dye in it.

 

I don't know about the dyes used in the UK, but Americans have been allowed to treat meat with carbon monoxide to keep it's colour for weeks since 2004 and now it is being debated by the House.

Hill Debates 'Carbon Monoxide Meat'

 

I´m not on a mission and I don´t want to step on any toes here, but I believe in diversity, so I thought a long meaty thread like this one should have at least one veggie alternative...
http://vegweb.com/
Thanx

 

Interesting stuff thanks

 

Looks delicious to me. :drool
http://www.harrylawson.me.uk/Pestsanddiseases/images/CabbageFlyMaggots.jpg

 

Hehe muskie, don't you just love toasted crunchy maggots?uke Where's the priorities at when tens of millions of pounds of ground beef are recalled because of possible e. coli contamination but meat can sit for weeks producing bacteria and you'd never know it.

It reminds me of the egg debacle which were contaminated with salmonella and New Jersey made it illegal for eateries to serve sunnyside up eggs. What's with that? Get to the root of the problem which is the producers cutting corners.

I'm a proponent of irradiation but the populace thinks that they would start glowing in the dark and therefore the distributors won't use it as no one would buy it if it's marked on the packaging. Wake up people, there are no epidemics caused by living near high-tension wires, cellphone use or wi-fi autism which just came out! rolleyes

Now, with all the information available literally at our fingertips, that people still don't know better and will believe any sensationalistic crap they hear. Nothing will ever be %100 safe, but neither is life. Look to pesticides and pollution first! /end rant

 

You hit several nails right on the head there, AD! Agreed in full.

 

That's fine with me, you can/do say whatever you want and it's a great alternative. I make a veggie meal several times a week and greatly enjoy them. However, spinach and lettuce etc. have also been recently recalled because of e. coli contamination.

Oh, let's not forget about all our imported off season stuff too! They're still using DDT in some countries. I go all organic if I can but that label is also being cheapened by the bandwagon folk like Wal-Mart. I do not trust these profiteering moguls one bit!

 

Thanks, I booked marked it, looks yummy

 

Carrot juice is murder too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM

roflmao with Mimsy

 

Bin it and get better meat

 

Carrot juice is murder too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM

with Mimsy
Reply With Quote

"Don´t mash that potato" Good Song

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Arrogant Worms! Look them up on YouTube

 

Dan was told to stay away from spinach and I think it was kale because of kidney stones

 

See? Veggies are the devil.

 

Sulphur Dioxide treatment is a common 'reddening agent' for meat, especially ground meat, as it has a much higher surface area in contact with the atmosphere than whole meat, and is often comprised of lower grade meats. The Sulphur Dioxide can make even putrid meat, bright red and neutralize odours, and appear fresh.

http://www.choice.com.au/viewArticl...d=100406&tid=100008&p=4&title=Mince+(archived)


Adulteration of meat with SO2 is supposedly illegal in many countries, but still goes on, none the less.

 

Maybe huh

 

I was going to say that I've often had hamburger that looked like this - I never knew what exactly caused it, but I figured it had something to do with exposure to the air. Like Rikky, I tend to follow my nose. If it smells ok, then it probabably is ok. I always make sure meat is properly cooked though, to kill any little nasties that might be there regardless of how fresh it is.

Well, I eat salads . . .

. . . and how do I define what makes a salad? That would be the lettuce, tomatos, onions, and dill slices on my huge, greasy, cheese covered hamburger or deer-burger pattie . . . :drool

Now, THATS a salad!!

 

I hate meet:cry

 

Meat always looks like that. It's no less healthy to eat than raw eggs.

As for vegetarians, I look at it this way. Cows are vegetarians. I eat cows.

 

roflmao

 

Beat me to it


~C

PS: Anyone in the medical field who deals with emergency patients would likely know that when there is a suspected case of Carbon Monoxide poisoning, check the oral mucosa (gums and tounge) if the patient was exposed to CO, these will be a Cherry Red color. Has to do with the formation of Carboxyhemoglobin (if I remember correctly, had a couple drinks this evening) in the blood stream, makes the red cells that much brighter.

 

Suprised this thread is still around. I made burgers out of said meat, just ate the last one tonight. Hmm... grilled burgers...

I would starve being a vegitarian. Most vegitables make me want to puke. I have been drinking some V8 fusion drinks lately. Nice way for me to get a few veggies without having to taste them.

E

 

Yep, in the case of Carbon Monoxide (CO), it is 200x more attracted to the Haemoglobin (Hb) molecule than molecular oxygen (O2). Hence the very effective blocking of Oxygen to Haemoglobin, and the formation of, as you said Carboxyhaemoglobin (CoHb). By contrast, carbon dioxide (CO2), which is produced as a waste product after aerobic respiration, binds to haemoglobin at a different site, therefore does not compete with oxygen for binding to haemoglobin. It is the presence of CoHb that is responsible for the 'cherry red' colouration, both in meat, and in humans, as said.

...So now y'all know.



The Sulphur Dioxide adulteration I mentioned above, is more of a problem, because you could be ingesting rancid meat loaded with salmonella bacterium (and toxins), and not know it.


Fred - Glad yer burgers were good!...:yum