5 Simple Tips to Choose Fresh Meat

Tips to choose fresh meat. Photo: Virginia Beef Industry Culture

All meat types share the same barometers of freshness, but there is more to determining quality than appearance and smell. One sign of freshness does not mean meat is fresh, nor does one sign of degradation mean meat has turned. You have to take all the quality indicators of meat into account as a whole to assess its freshness.

Follow us to know 5 tips to pick up fresh meat!

1. Check the color:

Fresh beef has a bright red color; the brighter the shade of red, the fresher the beef -- unless it's been treated with carbon monoxide to retain its color. If the meat has an unnatural red color, ask the supermarket if the beef has undergone carbon-monoxide treatment. On the other hand, a brownish-red color doesn't mean the meat isn't fresh; it just indicates it has been exposed to oxygen for as little as 30 minutes or has been frozen.

Fresh poultry can range in color from bluish-white to yellow because of its diet, breed, age, activity level and subcutaneous fat. Fresh pork has a grayish-pink cast, as said from Our Everyday Life.

2. Check the texture:

For poultry, the texture should be firm and the muscle fibers must be clearly visible. The meat must not be slimy and if you touch it, the fingers should be dry rather than sticky. The meat should not appear translucent and watery when it is cut.

In the case of red meat, it should not fall off easily when it is being cut. The fat should not be yellow in color, as it indicates that the meat is not fresh, according to New Indian Express.

3. Check the odor:

Poultry meat is generally odor-free but may have a slightly meaty odor on rare occasions. The smell of red meat is very specific to the type of meat and there should not be any variance from the typical smell of a goat or lamb.

One should make sure there is no foul or pungent odor to any kind of fresh meat being purchased.

4. Butchering:

The skill of meat's butchering referred to as fabricating, indirectly indicates its freshness. Photo: Serious Eats

The skill of meat's butchering referred to as fabricating, indirectly indicates its freshness. A well-fabricated cut of meat shows the purveyor is skilled and economical, and he likely takes as much care keeping his meat fresh as he does cutting it. Just as purveyors lose money when their meat goes bad, they lose money on trim, or the portions of meat sliced from a large cut when breaking it down to a retail cut.

Clean-cut edges and uniformity in the cuts' thickness and shape indicate the purveyor strives to keep food costs low, and purveyors who keep their food costs low keep their meat fresh; it goes with the territory.

5. Insider tips:

Be wary of meat specials, especially in restaurants. Restaurants put meat dishes on special to make money from it before they have to toss it; it's often a last-ditch effort to salvage their weekly food costs. For example, if you see a 16-ounce USDA prime strip steak on special for $20 -- and the menu lists it at $30 -- it isn't the freshest meat in the house. However, a discounted dish doesn't indicate the meat has turned; it just means it's rapidly approaching its expiration date.

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