Youre almost always met with an array of options.

She asked, is bright red ground beef better?

What Gives Ground Beef Its Color?

Raw ground beef on a piece of butchers paper.

Credit:Karla Conrad

Ground beef is typically made with various trimmings from a cow, theUSDAverifies.

After about15 minutes of air exposure, ground beef typically transforms to a cherry-red hue.

A few other factors can also slightly alter the color of ground beef.

These include:

Is Bright Red Ground Beef Better?

And in most cases, yes,bright red ground beef is one indicator of freshness.

However, this isnt always the case.

The brighter the red, the more oxygen the protein has been introduced to.

A lot of steakhouses leave their meat unwrapped after butchering to achieve this.

This is an example of something called modified atmospheric packaging.

How to Tell if Ground Beef Is Bad

So yes, red is good.

But brighter isn’t always better.

Alternatively, you’ve got the option to freeze ground beef for up to 4 months.

Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.