One should be meticulous when choosing fresh meat to buy in the market. You should be thorough in choosing not only for its taste and quality, but also for your safety. Some meat can appear fresh due to its reddish color, but the color is not the only indicator for a meat’s freshness.

Some people opt to buy from meat online delivery in HK to assure the freshness of the meats. But if you are buying meat yourself in the market, take note of the things you should look out for:

1. Color of the meat

It is true that one of the obvious indicators for a meat’s freshness is its color. But the right color of the meat depends on the type of meat you are buying.

For instance, fresh red meat should have colors between red, purple, and brown. Some meat would appear brown because they have been exposed to oxygen, but they can still be safe to eat. On the other hand, pork meat should have a color of pink. While poultry meats can be blue white to yellow.

2. Smell of the meat

Since the color of the meat can be deceiving, smelling it can be a better way to determine whether it is fresh or not. Fresh meat has little to no smell at all.  If the meat smells rotten or pungent, you need to be careful because it may not be safe to eat.

3. Cut of the meat

You can tell a meat quality by how it was butchered. Look for meats that are smoothly cut and are uniform in size. Be careful in choosing jagged-edged meats because it can be a sign that care was not taken when handling the meat.

4. The sell-by date

The best before date tells buyers when the meats are in their optimum freshness before a certain period. You could still buy some meat lying around the shelves even after its best before date because they can still be consumed but it is up to the buyer to decide. But if you want to be safe, pick the meats with the latest best-before date or sell-by date.