When looking for ground beef to make burgers, many people either go to a supermarket or a butcher. People have grown accustomed to looking at the ground beef for “redness” as a deciding factor as to freshness of the burger.
The redness of the burger meat DOES NOT=FRESH...I repeat the redness of the burger meat DOES NOT=FRESH! All warm blooded animals have a pigment in their meat tissue called myoglobin. The color is a light burgundy color. When this comes in contact with oxygen it becomes oxymyoglobin. This is when the meat will turn a deep red. This is the reason why if you buy a vacuumed packed side of boneless top sirloin (uncut) it is not the same deep red color.
What should you look out for? If you buy a couple of pounds of ground beef...any cut...and the inside and outside is the same color of red...there is a good chance that you ground beef had color added to it and it might not be as fresh as you think.