Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

:question:
I have a habit of buying meat and freezing it for later. One of my hamburger packages said best buy March 2017 but I froze it. I went to cook it today but it is grey in colour, almost looks like meat gone bad. I never thawed it out and I never lost power long enough for it to thaw out so I would imagine it is still good.... yes.... no??? I assume the colour change is something like freezer burn? It should smell when I thaw it out, I never heard of meat going bad while frozen, any thoughts?
:lunch:

Un cooked ground beef 3-4 mths in freezer .

ross wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:17 pm

Un cooked ground beef 3-4 mths in freezer .

Oops, so ten months is not good then. Is it bad Ross or just dried out? Could I give it to my barn cats?

It's probably not deadly, but I'd give it to the dog :). or cats!

Linda

Grey meat?! That sounds like you're describing a body unearthed in a archaeological dig. So no, I wouldn't eat it, or feed it to my animals either. I'd bin it.

Dump it ,food saving not worth a vet bill or lose of life .

Is it gray just on the outside or right thru?
If it's just on the outside it's either a freezer burn or it has partially defrosted at some point.
Beef can be frozen for a year, but that's assuming it has been flash frozen at the processor.
Ground is always a bit risky, and if you froze it in your own freezer, it might have just taken too long to freeze.
You may want to pop a thermometer in to your freezer to check at what temperature it's running.
IDEAL FREEZER TEMPERATURE
To freeze food -23 C
To store frozen food - 18 C

if meat is a proper brown paper and flash frozen from butcher AND its in a chest freezer deep freeze- I've eaten beef (burger, steak, roast) that was 4 years old- no problem (we cut off a freezer burnt tip on a roast and the rest was fine); chicken two years no problem (of vacuum packed and thick plastic bag (thin plastic or broken plastic shorter time period).
any air in a package will drastically reduce shelf life. ground beef from a store is likely mixed from many beef animals and therefore shorter shelf life than meat from a single animal from your corner butcher.
meat in store display package (foam bottom, plastic wrap top) three months is the max as it freezer burns nasty.
stand up fridge/freezer: everything has a short shelf life compared to a chest freezer.
dog food? sure the dog will eat it and extremely unlikely any problems.

Gray means it's been exposed to the air. Some grocery stores have taken flack for 'soaking' meat in carbon monoxide to keep it red longer, allowing shelf life to be extended... because nobody wants to eat grey meat. Even if it's safe to eat, it likely won't taste very good.

Its likely freezer burnt and will be tough as nails cooked lol. I give that kind of stuff to the dog or out as yummies for the yotes if i know any hunters going out.