# Did you ever serve ground beef that had \*just\* turned grey/brown? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179 "2010-02-23T22:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/1 "2010-02-23T22:00:53Z")
Has anyone here ever eaten or served ground beef that had turned greyish-brown sometime within just the past six hours or so? (Refrigerated the whole time). How’d that turn out for you? ETA: Ahem. Need answer fast. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/2 "2010-02-23T22:09:07Z")
I’ve used “grey” ground beef without incident. Occasionally, I’ll get a package at the store that is red on the outside and grey on the inside…figure that one out. I would use the “sniff” test, too. If it smells funky, it’s not worth food poisoning. ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/3 "2010-02-23T22:10:10Z")
I am not a doctor or a butcher, but as far as I know, ground beef turning grey does not indicate that it’s going bad. That’s just what air does to ground beef. If it smells off, don’t use it. If it is old, don’t use it. But if it smells fine and you haven’t had it long, you should be just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/4 "2010-02-23T22:22:13Z")
smell is everything… when in doubt- cook the hell out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/5 "2010-02-23T23:21:13Z")
What they said. When I have questionable ground beef, it gets a good cooking, then made into taco meat (add lots of seasoning!)… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/6 "2010-02-23T23:48:24Z")
The blood in meat (and in you and everything else) turns red when first exposed to the air. This can result in the weirdness that is a pound of hamburger that’s red on the outside and brown on the inside. It is _not_, as my brother thinks, the result of the store wrapping a clod of old meat in a thin layer of fresh meat in order to sell it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/7 "2010-02-23T23:55:29Z")
> [@Ruby](#): > > I’ve used “grey” ground beef without incident. Occasionally, I’ll get a package at the store that is red on the outside and grey on the inside..figure that one out. The store has some meat that’s been around a bit too long (or just looks gray) and then feeds it into the meat grinder with a bit of fresh meat so that the entire package looks red. A local supermarket does this all the time, so I’ve stopped shopping there. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/8 "2010-02-24T00:12:28Z")
I just wanted to say how much I appreciated the serendipity of **RealityChuck** showing beside the title as the last poster in this thread. 😃 Yeah, if I know my ground beef should still be good, but it looks funny, I give it a really good sniff, and have never had a problem with that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/9 "2010-02-24T00:36:03Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > The blood in meat (and in you and everything else) turns red when first exposed to the air. This can result in the weirdness that is a pound of hamburger that’s red on the outside and brown on the inside. > > It is _not_, as my brother thinks, the result of the store wrapping a clod of old meat in a thin layer of fresh meat in order to sell it. Exactly, and there’s a [cite here.](http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Factsheets/Ground_Beef_and_Food_Safety/index.asp) > [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2010, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-serve-ground-beef-that-had-just-turned-grey-brown/530179/10 "2010-02-24T03:30:30Z")
I cook hamburger all the time that has turned color. If it smells good then cook it.