9 Ways To Tell If Your Pork Chops Have Gone Bad

Something smells ... funny. If you're about to prepare dinner and notice the plump and pretty pork chops you bought a few days ago looking a little suspicious, they may have gone bad. Sure, that puts a damper on your meal plan to make juicy baked pork chops, but knowing the signs of spoiled food will help you and your diners avoid eating something that tastes woefully unpleasant. And, what is inarguably the most important point to consider here, you'll prevent anyone from becoming ill.

Per the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), two basic types of bacteria can negatively affect fresh meat: spoilage and pathogenic bacteria. Spoilage bacteria cause quality issues, like foul odors and slimy surfaces, while pathogenic bacteria can ultimately cause serious foodborne illnesses such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes. With all of these microbes on the prowl searching for their next fresh meat victim, a lot of responsibility falls on your shoulders to figure out if your pork chops shouldn't be consumed. Some signs are more obvious than others, and with my help, you'll know how to detect all of them.

Trust me, I have the chops to talk about chops. As a buyer in the food retail sector, I must diligently review the quality and safety of different products. I have also maintained a ServSafe certification for the last 14 years, a food safety and sanitation training program sponsored by the National Restaurant Association. So, without further delay, let's get gross.

A critical food safety mistake you can make in your own home kitchen management is not properly storing raw meats, including pork chops, after purchasing them. A wide range of sensitive food products need to be carefully controlled and monitored by time and temperature to maintain their safety for consumption. These foods have the highest risk of rapidly producing harmful bacterial growth and are referred to as TCS (Time and Temperature Control for Safety) foods according to the National Restaurant Association. Raw meats such as poultry, beef, pork, and lamb are among the most common foods listed as part of this TCS classification.

Pathogenic bacteria reproduce the fastest within a temperature range commonly known as the Temperature Danger Zone among national food organizations like the National Restaurant Association and the USDA. Because the Temperature Danger Zone is between 40 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a typical room temperature environment is the ideal setting for this bacterial growth. Following the USDA's advice, don't leave out your pork products for any longer than two hours at room temperature. To prevent this rapid growth of bacteria, the easiest solution is to keep your pork chops refrigerated until you are prepared to cook them since most refrigerators are set to a temperature at or slightly below 40 degrees Faranheit. For long-term storage, you can also choose to freeze your pork chops as an alternative solution, and then thaw them in the refrigerator before cooking.

No, you don't have to faithfully follow the expiration date on your food packaging as a strict rule of when to throw your chops. Food product dating for meat, poultry, and egg products is not federally required under the Food Safety and Inspection Service, per the USDA. For the consumer, it's important to understand that any labels noting a sell-by or use-by date listed on any meat product, let alone pork chops, is an indication of its best quality and not an indication of how safe it is to consume.

You should use these voluntary standards for dating as a broad guideline for deciding how to proceed in the kitchen. As I often repeat to customers in my professional food retail work, it is safe to consume many fresh food products a few days after their recommended sell-by date, as long as they have been packaged and stored properly and there are no other apparent signs of spoilage. Specifically for pork products such as pork chops, the USDA recommends cooking or freezing them within a range of three to five days after purchasing.

Did you buy pork chops from the grocery store that have been vacuum-sealed in plastic packaging? As long as you didn't puncture or open it, you have a built-in cheat code you can use to easily tell if the meat is unsafe for consumption. This won't be possible to perceive whenever the meat is loosely wrapped in butcher paper.

If the sealed packaging looks puffy and bloated, there is an excess buildup of gas. The seal of the plastic is strong enough to trap and maintain this gaseous activity, and it will feel like a full, tight balloon when you press down on it gently. This a sign that there has been vigorous microbial development of a diverse range of harmful bacteria and gas emissions from that growth. The bacteria feed on the meat as its main source of consumption, emitting carbon dioxide and other potentially toxic gases as byproducts of fermentation. In this state, the meat is in the process of decomposing and definitely should not be eaten.

Follow your nose, and let your natural instincts take the reins. Similar to how steak smells when it goes bad, an off-putting stench emitting from the pork chops is one of the most reliable sensory indications of rancidity. This sign will be clear as soon as you open the meat's packaging and give the contents a good whiff. As temporarily disgusting as it will be, sniffing a rotten or sour odor is a clearcut way to save you and your fellow diners from eating pork that has turned terribly bad.

Fresh, high-quality meat when purchased from reputable sources should not have a strong smell you can detect. If anything, there may be a subtle clean, metallic scent indicative of blood. Beyond that, though, any foul odor is a sign that you need to toss the meat immediately. A putrid aroma isn't something that can be fixed simply by covering it up with sauces and spices.

When you are figuring out how fresh your pork chops are, you should visually analyze both the flesh and the fat. Generally, the color of raw pork should be rosy pink, with firm fatty sections that are bright white marbling in the interior or lining the exterior. However, color alone should not be your only determining factor of spoilage, as raw pork chops that are considered still safe to consume may vary and change in color, per the USDA.

Some slight pigmentation loss is normal due to minimal amounts of oxidation exposure during butchering and processing. And as long as you are properly storing the pork chops at home, and using them within the correct time frame, it is safe to cook and consume the meat. However, if the flesh is noticeably pale and looks gray or greenish-gray, and if the fat has faded in brightness or has turned into a questionable shade, you should then stop to determine if there are other signs of spoilage, such as a putrid odor or slime. If color changes are accompanied by those additional indicators, your pork chops succumbed to decay and should not be eaten.

A slimy or excessively sticky exterior is a clear indicator that the meat has gone bad and needs to be thrown out. Fresh meat should be moist, plump, and luscious, but there's a colossal difference between those positive features to look out for compared to those that are foul and potentially harmful. As long as you can discern the distinction between repulsively slimy and perfectly moist, you'll know if the meat belongs in the trashcan rather than in the skillet.

Luckily, it's easy to detect slime. You'll see a thin film of gelatinous liquid that covers some or all of the exterior, and it's often accompanied by a bad odor. If the visual aid is not enough to decide whether or not to keep or dispose of the meat, you can also touch its surface. If you can feel a slimy or sticky texture, that's a clear sign the meat is well past its prime. And as with handling any raw meat, make sure to thoroughly wash your hands afterward.

The original packaging the pork chops are placed in is appropriate for short-term storage if you plan on cooking them within the next few days after purchasing. Whether they are vacuum-sealed in plastic packaging for retail-ready sale at a grocery store or freshly wrapped in butcher paper at the local butcher shop, these forms of packaging will provide the necessary protection.

However, if the packaging has been damaged or compromised, there may be a risk of air exposure that will cause the meat to excessively dry out, losing essential moisture that cannot be renewed. Not only is the loss of moisture an issue, but another potential concern is that the exposed meat could be tainted due to prolonged contact with airborne physical, chemical, or microbial contaminants. Air-dried meat in a controlled environment done by experienced cooks is an acceptable meat prep practice to improve both flavor and texture, but a situation involving damaged packaging is completely different.

Mold growth sprouting on the surface of the meat is a visual indication of spoilage, an obvious hint for the home cook to throw out the chops ASAP. The presence of mold suggests a hospitable environment has been created for microbial spoilage development. The mold may vary by texture and color, but you'll be able to clearly notice an unusual growth on the meat with just a quick glance. You may see a range of different colors, from blue or green to red or black. The texture may be feathery and fuzzy and expanding off of the surface, or it may be level and flush with the surface.

It's wishful thinking to cross your fingers and hope you can simply wash off the mold or cut around it, and expect all to be well once the detox ritual is over. But this isn't like some mold you can cut off from a hunk of hard-aged cheese. Any form of unexpected mold on the meat you have at home is a bad indication that all of the meat, not just the sections that are frosted with fuzz, has gone bad. Dispose of it ... and I mean all of it. If you are concerned that you accidentally ate mold, pay attention to how severely your body reacts after ingestion, as you may need to contact your primary care physician or Poison Control.

You're not off the hook just yet once you cook your chops. Even with a perfectly fresh product, you still need to keep a record of when you cooked it and know how long it will last once cooked. As the saying goes — and this couldn't be more accurate when applied to food cookery — nothing lasts forever.

In most professional kitchens I have worked in, three to five days starting from the day of cooking is the general length of time for serving or consuming meat before it should be disposed of. This time frame is a firm rule to diligently follow at home, as well, whether or not the meat shows apparent signs of spoilage. However, if you notice anything suspicious before that length of time in storage, err on the side of caution and dispose of it right away. The majority of the spoilage signs for raw meat will be the same for cooked meat, such as mold growth, putrid odor, rancid or sour taste, and/or a slimy surface.