What are these little discolored bits I found in my ground beef?

September 19, 2014 5:46 PM

I found two weird little green/blue/grey bits inside a 1 lb package of ground beef. Not spots on the outside of the meat but little 3-d bits of something found inside the meat while crumbling it into a pan. It is grass-fed beef from a local ranch. They have all their meat packed at a USDA approved plant and all. This is my first time ordering beef from them so I don't know what to think. I've never seen this in grass-fed or regular beef, ever. What could it be?
posted by atinna to Food & Drink (15 answers total)

Do you have pictures?
posted by KathrynT at 5:49 PM on September 19, 2014

Do you still have it to post a photo? Otherwise it's all just wild guesswork.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:50 PM on September 19, 2014

Was it meat-like texture or was it obviously a foreign object? How little?
posted by acidic at 5:55 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Could it be the USDA stamp that was on the beef before it was ground? That's usually green/blue/gray. It's made of some kind of supposedly food-safe coloring.
posted by HotToddy at 5:58 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Connective tissue. It's a sign of slightly careless butchering, but it won't harm you.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:00 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: OK I dug the bits out of the trash. Here is the pic:

http://i57.tinypic.com/23lzf5z.jpg
posted by atinna at 6:05 PM on September 19, 2014

It looks like something (maybe part of the packaging) got in the grinder.
posted by dilaudid at 6:11 PM on September 19, 2014

While I can't say for certain, that *really* looks like the USDA Stamp to me.
posted by stet at 6:13 PM on September 19, 2014

Looks like (food safe) grease or residue from the grinder. I get this when I grind at home. I pick it out if I notice. Otherwise I don't worry about it.
posted by supercres at 6:18 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: OK so to be clear, the stamp can come off into three-dimensional bits? Like it's thick? I looked at pics of the stamp and the color is pretty close but the ink is thick enough to "flake" into pieces?
posted by atinna at 6:20 PM on September 19, 2014

Was it the same texture as the meat? Ink could conceivably sink into the meat and color it.
posted by jaguar at 6:22 PM on September 19, 2014

Best answer: I've generally seen it stamped on the fat, so it stands out. It could definitely be 3 dimensional.
posted by sanka at 6:24 PM on September 19, 2014 [4 favorites]

And in my experience trimming fat off a leg of lamb, the ink from the stamp went through the meat deep enough to color some of the bone.
posted by jaguar at 6:27 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]

Best answer: Yep. The stamp penetrates into the meat. Typically they stamp the round, which doesn't usually go into the grinder. Who knows though? It's not a precision operation.
posted by stet at 6:30 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: All right it sounds like it is probably ink then. Thanks everyone for your help.
posted by atinna at 6:33 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]