Several times when I’ve gotten home with ground beef from the supermarket, I’ve noticed that it seems somewhat gray when I take it out to cook. Because fresh ground beef usually has a more vibrant red hue, this has always raised red flags. But don’t automatically assume the worst when you see grayish-looking ground beef. Before you toss that next bag of ground beef in the trash, read on to find out more.

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Even if the center of your ground beef box appears gray, it’s probably still OK to eat. Oxymyoglobin is a component of meat that, when exposed to oxygen, gives ground beef its characteristic brilliant red hue. The fact that ground beef may appear gray in the center of a package does not always indicate that it has been exposed to air.

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