Protecting families from contaminated food and water
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Protecting families from contaminated food and water
Posted in Food Safety,Our Blog on June 19, 2026
We often see discounted meats at the local supermarket. They have sell by dates that are very close or even the day of. These are marked down usually called manager’s special where I live, but other stores call them different things including priced to sell or quick sale. The question is are discounted meats safe? Why are they marked down? What do we need to know before buying them?
Grocery stores may also offer discounted meats for inventory reasons—for example, if they received too much skirt steak from a supplier or stocked a cut that didn’t sell as expected. Meat can also be marked down for cosmetic reasons, says Dr. Aeriel Belk, an assistant professor in Auburn University’s Department of Animal Sciences, such as a brisket with too much of its fat cap trimmed away, which can lead to tougher meat, or a lopsided steak that will be harder to sear evenly.
With rising grocery costs across the country, it is important to know how to save money in every single aspect of shopping including looking for these manager’s specials. When shopping for these products I tend to follow the “if it’s too good to be true then it probably is” and I am very cautious when shopping in this section of the meat department.
“Sometimes you’ll see a steak or a chop that’s a little wonky—it doesn’t look like the nice cut that you would expect, even though it’s perfectly good,” Belk says. “I would consider that a good deal—it’s sort of like the marketing around ‘ugly fruit.'”
In other words, a lower price doesn’t necessarily mean reduced safety—it often just means a shorter shelf life or less-than-perfect looks. In many cases, that affects how the meat cooks more than whether it’s worth buying at all.
Most of the time, the meat in the discount case won’t look its best—but that isn’t necessarily an indicator of whether it’s safe to eat. Among food safety experts, “spoiled” and “unsafe to eat” have distinct meanings. Food that is spoiled—like meat beginning to rot or grow mold—may not be inherently unsafe, meaning it won’t cause foodborne illness in the same way pathogens like E. coli or Salmonella can.
In fact, the molds and microbes that cause spoilage tend to be less dangerous than pathogens that can be present in food without affecting its appearance, such as Clostridium botulinum, the bacterium that causes botulism. In that sense, spoilage can serve as a rough warning that a food is past its prime, though it isn’t a reliable indicator of whether dangerous pathogens are present.
Still, spoiled meat is not fit for consumption. As it decomposes, meat produces compounds like cadaverine and putrescine—yes, that’s what they’re actually called—which are responsible for the unpleasant odors associated with rotting meat and can be harmful if consumed in significant amounts. “It’s not good, but it’s not going to make you sick in the way that you think,” Belk says. “Your body might say, ‘this is gross,’ and try to get rid of it because it knows that you consumed something that’s rotting. A reaction to something that is gross is different from a true illness. It’s a subtle difference, but an important one.”
For cooks, that distinction matters because a piece of meat that’s slightly past its visual prime may still be safe to cook, but once it smells off or shows clear signs of spoilage, it’s no longer worth trying to salvage—no matter how good the deal.
When you’re shopping in the discount meat case, your two strongest tools are your eyes and your nose. Belk says she tends to shop with her nose first—if you smell any off-putting odors, like rotting meat, oddly sweet notes, or anything particularly pungent, it’s best to pass on that package.
Then it’s time to look for visual cues. If a piece of red meat still has vivid, cherry-red flesh, it’s likely still fresh. If it’s begun to brown, it’s likely still safe to eat, but the color change—caused by the oxidation of myoglobin—indicates that it’s older. When shopping for pork or chicken, keep an eye out for greenish, gray, or brownish hues in the flesh, as well as any yellowing or browning in the fat. Fresh pork and chicken should look plump and moist, but never slimy.
In any meat package, the presence of excess liquid can also be a red flag. In red meat, it may indicate the product has been frozen and thawed multiple times, which can affect quality and juiciness. In chicken and pork, it can indicate spoilage.
When it comes to ground meat, there’s always a slightly higher risk of bacterial contamination because of how it’s processed. “There are more places for bacteria to hide in the nooks and crannies of ground meat, which makes it a higher risk for pathogens,” Belk says. “It’s going to spoil faster than a whole muscle.”
She notes, though, that packaging may be the most important factor of all. She considers vacuum-sealed meats the safest option in the discount case, since the packaging helps minimize exposure to oxygen and slow spoilage. Meats packaged aerobically—like those in standard Styrofoam trays with plastic wrap—spoil faster than those packaged anaerobically, such as “chubs” of ground beef or vacuum-sealed steaks. “Vacuum-packaged is what you want, because that will last even beyond the sell-by date on the packaging,” she says.
For cooks, these cues can also help you gauge not just safety, but performance: Meat that’s slightly older or has lost some moisture may still be perfectly usable, but it’s often better suited to braises or well-done preparations than a quick sear.
When shopping for discounted meats I plan my menu around what I can cook immediately or freeze/vacuum seal right away especially depending on the sell by dates. Often we get some really good deals when buying these meats in bulk, but it takes some quick work to make sure they are used accordingly.
For more information on safely grocery shopping follow Make Food Safe.