How to tell if meat has gone bad - advice from professionals

Basic indicators

Before you start cooking any meat, you need to be sure that it is fresh enough and suitable for further processing. It is better not to use suspicious products. This may lead to undesirable consequences. In such cases, novice housewives ask the same question: how can you tell if the meat has gone bad? Experienced professionals or those who often encounter a similar problem can answer it. In their opinion, there are three main indicators of meat freshness:

1. Appearance. The meat of any animal should have a color from bright pink to dark brown. Any rainbow tints and grayish shades are unacceptable. If a piece of meat has bones or joints, they should be white. For fatty layers, a yellowish tint is acceptable.
2. Smell. When buying a product in a store, you must smell it. But how can you tell if the meat has gone bad? Usually an external examination is not enough. Here we must remember that fresh meat has virtually no odor except for a slight hint of milk. Any extraneous “aromas” indicate poor quality of the product.
3. Consistency. How can you tell if meat has gone bad? Fresh meat should be elastic and quite dense to the touch. The dimple, which forms when light pressure is applied by hand, usually disappears immediately. A spoiled product, on the contrary, will be loose. The finger enters it like butter. In addition, a fresh piece of meat will never be sticky or slippery.

Knowing these indicators, it is easy to distinguish a good product from a bad and low-quality one.

How can you tell if a turkey has spoiled or not?

Turkey meat, and especially its fillet, has virtually no contraindications for consumption if it is fresh and of high quality.

Turkey fillet (also called breast) is elite boneless meat from the breast part of the turkey bird. In terms of prevalence, domestic turkey meat is in second place after chicken.

Fillet, as the most balanced product of animal origin, is widely used in cooking all over the world due to its high taste and nutritional characteristics, primarily its high protein content.

Any quality of a product, especially a frozen one, can be determined not only externally, but also by smell, despite the fact that unscrupulous sellers often try in any way to give freshness and marketable appearance to a spoiled product and sell it.

Turkey meat is very tasty and in demand, often sold in carcasses, half-carcasses or offal.

So, how can we tell if turkey meat has gone bad or not?

Raw turkey should not raise any questions for the buyer. The surface should be pink or pink-beige in color, and there should be no dark spots, bruises or damage on it. The breast should be lighter in color than the rest of the turkey and should be dry.

You need to pay attention to the fat of the bird - in young birds it is light, and in older birds it is a little darker. There should be no discharge on the skin, and the smell should be typical for this bird.

If you buy packaged turkey, the inside of the meat should be dry and there should be no accumulation of liquid.

You should be concerned if the bird's skin is bruised, dented, or bruised. Dents in the meat are unacceptable - this may indicate that the turkey is old. You should be alert for mucus on the surface, and if the turkey is in pieces, the meat should not separate from the bones.

Dark fat also indicates that the meat is suspicious, as do stains or weathering on the surface of the skin. You should not buy such a bird, especially if it has a pungent odor. Here you need to remember that no amount of washing the carcass will eliminate this problem. Bacteria have already begun to multiply, and eating such meat is dangerous.

Cooked turkey meat can also spoil, even if it has been in the refrigerator. The fact that the meat is not suitable for food is indicated by a disgusting smell, as well as darkened meat and a surface that becomes slippery and wet. You can easily get poisoned from such turkey meat, so it is better to get rid of suspicious meat.

Is the minced meat spoiled?

Inexperienced housewives are often lost when it comes to minced meat. How can you tell if meat has gone bad if what you see is not a whole piece, but a chopped semi-finished product? However, the freshness of minced meat is determined by the same indicators.

The product must be carefully inspected, smelled and definitely touched with your hands. Only then can a final decision be made regarding its suitability. Take, for example, minced beef. It doesn't have to be cherry red. During storage, beef gradually begins to darken from the inside. This is caused by the lack of direct access to oxygen. In the middle, over time, the minced meat may even turn brown. But that's quite normal. The semi-finished product should not smell bad. This is a clear sign of a spoiled product. Here we must always remember that even fresh products contain bacteria. Therefore, if there is any suspicious aroma, it is better not to take risks. In conclusion, you should definitely touch the minced meat with your hands. If it is sticky, slippery or too wet, then no amount of heat treatment will correct such a product.

Study of the skin surface

Fresh chicken meat is smooth and elastic, so by touching the chicken you will be able to determine its freshness. To do this, simply press firmly on the carcass with your finger to form a dent. If after this the meat quickly returns to its original position and the dent disappears, then you have a fresh product.

Chicken meat that has expired is characterized by looseness, and after pressing, the formed dents do not disappear. As already noted, in addition to the friability, there will certainly be a sticky and slippery film on the surface of spoiled chicken meat.

If you observe at least one of the signs of meat spoilage, which were discussed in detail in this article, or you have doubts about the freshness of the meat, it is better to refuse to use it in cooking. Such an error can cause serious poisoning and the development of dangerous complications.

Determining the freshness of pork

Each type of meat has its own characteristics. For example, there is pork on the counter in a store. How can you tell if meat has gone bad? Here again we need to remember three main features.

The color of a piece of pork must be soft pink. A darker shade indicates that it is either no longer fresh, or the meat of an old animal is in front of you. In this case, it is better to refuse such a purchase. A dish prepared from such pork will taste disgusting and will not bring pleasure. If the meat is very pale, then growth hormones may have been added to the animal feed. It is not safe to cook food from such products. If the meat looks normal outwardly, this does not mean that it does not need to be smelled. Sometimes sellers try to hide the unpleasant odor with spices or table vinegar. The presence of any foreign aromas indicates that the product is not as good as it seems. When pressed with your finger, pork, like any other meat, should be elastic. When buying a product on the market, you must not forget to check for the presence of a sanitary inspection stamp.

Duration and storage conditions of chicken meat

When purchasing chicken meat, be sure to pay attention to the expiration dates indicated on the packaging. Unfortunately, compliance with this requirement does not always guarantee the purchase of fresh meat, because the product may be stored in inappropriate conditions.

To avoid mistakes, it is recommended to familiarize yourself with the storage conditions of meat. The product must be packaged in vacuum packages and sealed containers.

Chicken must be stored at low temperatures to avoid rapid spoilage. So, chicken meat can be kept in the refrigerator for no more than two days. As for the frozen product, the maximum duration of its storage in the freezer can be up to 12 months.

Characteristics of spoiled chicken

Poultry meat is no exception. It can also become unusable if stored for a long time and improperly. How can you tell if chicken meat has gone bad? The inadequate quality of such a product is determined according to the scheme already familiar to everyone. First, the color of the meat changes from pink to gray. This is acceptable in small quantities. The carcass can be cooked a little more. If there is very little natural shade left, then such a chicken cannot be saved. Secondly, spoiled poultry meat has a characteristic unpleasant odor. It is very difficult to get rid of it, and it is not necessary.

Thirdly, the skin of a spoiled carcass will be slippery and sticky. A small coating forms on the surface in the form of a thin shiny film. Sometimes you have to deal with a ready-made product. For example, spoiled fried chicken smells like sulfur or rotten eggs. And no spices will help here. And another important sign is the presence of mold. Even the initial formation of fluffy formations of black or green color is a signal that the product is completely spoiled.

Determining freshness by meat type

The meat of different animals has its own characteristics. If for pork only pink color is the norm, then for chicken even a small amount of grayish color is acceptable. When preparing meat for further processing, areas with this color simply need to be cut off.

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Pork

Color will help you recognize if a piece of meat is stale. Fresh product obtained from a young animal should be pale pink. Darker shades indicate its windiness. If the tenderloin is obtained after the slaughter of an old pig, then the dish for which the product is purchased will be spoiled. Old pork has a bad taste.

It happens that the meat, on the contrary, is very light. This may indicate the addition of growth hormones to animal feed. It is not safe to eat this kind of cut.

If a piece looks great on the outside, you need to smell and touch it. Sometimes meat sprinkled with spices ends up on the shelves. You should refuse such a purchase: unscrupulous sellers can hide the unpleasant aroma that appears.

Chicken

If stored for a long time and improperly, the chicken carcass, as well as its individual parts, may become unusable. In spoiled fillets, the pink color changes and becomes gray. If there are few such areas, you can save the meat by cutting them down to healthy tissue and lightly boiling the remaining piece.

Spoiling chicken has a characteristic unpleasant odor that cannot be masked.

Another parameter indicating the poor quality of the product, or rather its unsuitability, is sticky and slippery skin. A slight coating forms on the surface in the form of a thin shiny film. If cooked chicken has been in the refrigerator for a long time, you can also determine by its condition whether it is suitable for consumption. The smell of sulfur and the appearance of a greenish color are a signal that it is time to throw away the product.

Beef

Since beef is a perishable product, it is important to correctly determine the condition of the meat. There are three main parameters to determine. But if doubts remain, you can take into account auxiliary signs.

Determining the freshness of beef meat

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