how long can i keep ground meat?

[twentyoystahs]

It was refrigerated for a week....purchased from a butcher so meat was not previously packaged. Forgot it was in the fridge for that long and then promptly tossed it in the freezer. Do you think it's still okay to eat or is it not worth the risk?
I am not a huge meat eater so not that familiar with how long stuff stays good. I did sneak a quick peek at it and it was definitely browning a bit, but was wrapped really tightly so i don't think too much oxygen would have gotten to it.

Help? Toss or cook?

TIA.

[KaimukiMan]

1-3 days not likely to be a problem. i keep my fridge just above freezing but even at that a full week is pushing it. Maybe 4 or 5 days at the most.

[freia]

I wonder how long ground beef stays in the butcher shop cooler case before it is sold. Do they really throw it out there after 2 days? And how long the plastic wrapped ground beef has been in the grocery store case before I took it home.
Any butchers out there?

[Puffin3]

If the meat had 'peach paper' or something similar underneath it the color/smell could fool you. I got salmonella once from eating tainted ground beef. You DO NOT want to have that happen to you and/or your family. Toss it now!

[BobB]

According to StillTasty.com (my go-to site for such things), it's no more than 2 days in the fridge:

http://www.stilltasty.com/fooditems/i...

[twentyoystahs]

ps it's ground beef. forgot to mention that. some sites online say just 2-3 days, so perhaps i should just toss it?

[benbenberi]

2-3 days sounds about right. Ground beef does NOT stay fresh very long, even in the fridge. Color is a poor indicator, but if you'd unwrapped it after a week you'd have gotten a whiff of nasty bad throw-me-out-now funkiness and it would not be taking up freezer space now. Pitch it!