is this safe to eat

[ProudGrandma]

I found a store packaged pound of ground beef in the back of my fridge with a sell by date of Jan 17th.  It is brown in color (although it is raw) and hasn't been frozen.  I should throw it away, right?

[texasmama]

If it passed the sniff test, I would likely cook it thoroughly and eat it.  I am odd in that I sniff all beef products so I have a keen idea of what fresh beef smells like.

[Baseball mom]

The back of my fridge freezes or nearly freezes things.  I would open it and smell it.  Then tear it open.  It might still be pink in center. 

I have eaten some that was brown but still smelled good.

Edited January 23, 2016 by Baseball mom

[Harriet Vane]

Too old. I usually try to get to meat within three days of the sell-by date.

 

I am looser about non-meat items.

[Garga]

I wouldn't. Not for raw meat. I'm ok for some other things, but not meat. I think of just how amazingly painful it would be to be puking up bad meat and it's not worth it to me.

[zoobie]

Food poisoning is hell. Toss.

[EKS]

I would not use it.

[Cindy in FL.]

I wouldn't eat it. If I am not going to use meat the day I buy it or the day after, then I freeze it.

[El...]

I'd toss it, just to be sure.  On the other hand, bad raw meat is not faintly bad-smelling; it goes from ok to horrible.  I think if you pierce that cellophane you will know. 

[JFSinIL]

If it was a chunk of whole meat like a roast, I'd go ahead and cook it. Ground meat - no way.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I'd give it a sniff test, but that is really pushing it time wise so it probably won't smell good. 

 

I do agree ground meat is more problematic than a roast. 

 

 

[Cinder]

I vote no.

[Katy]

If it came from a mass producer, I'd pitch it.  If your butcher ground it just for you, I'd trust that better and sniff it.  Then I'd still be repulsed by the thought of food poisoning and throw it out anyway.

[Tanaqui]

Being brown doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, it just means it's oxidized. However, the fact that it's a week past the sell-by date DOES mean it is super risky. I wouldn't use that beef. It's just too old.

[ILiveInFlipFlops]

I wouldn't--not ground beef, not a week after the sell by date, and not if it was hand-packaged by the store (like in saran wrap, versus mass-produced vacuum packed). I've heard too many stories (and actually seen it myself) where the store was caught re-packaging/re-dating meat products. I wouldn't take the risk with that many variables.

[ProudGrandma]

no worries...it was thrown away  last night.

 

 

[The Girls' Mom]

I'm one that will eat pretty much anything...that would be a tosser, sorry.  1. cooked rancid beef will smell up your house and spoil your appetite for anything else...regardless of whether you eat it or not.  2.  Gone over ground beef is pretty much just asking for trouble.