Are the dark spots on this frozen beef safe to eat or a sign of spoilage?

Question

We bought meat from a grocer, put it in the freezer, and it sat there for a while (a few months). We had a power outage about a month ago that lasted 25 hours. We ran the fridge on backup power after about 8 hours of outtage for maybe 5 hours, then again overnight. Everything seemed to stay cold, what we checked in the freezer was still frozen after power came back.

Now we took this beef out to thaw and notice it had some miscolored spots. We put it in the fridge overnight and it looks better but still has darker patches in the package in the same areas. The coloration is inside the plastic, not on the outside. See browner spots in photos below.

I know frozen stuff can have some color change, freezer burn that sort of thing. How do we know if this is still safe to eat? We'd be making burgers and BBQ'ing this pretty well done to be safe.

Frozen photos:

Thawed photos:

Sorry if this is a silly question, we don't often eat meat so it's only occasionally that we see and work with frozen meat anyway.

Answer 1

The dark spots are just oxygenation of the beef's surface.

Beef is only the bright red color you see at the store naturally for a short period of time. As it is exposed to oxygen it turns into that unattractive brownish color. To counteract this stores spray beef with carbon monoxide which turns it into an even more bright red color that we like as it signals to our brain "This cow was just mooing". The human brain has yet to catch up to the fact that refrigeration exists and works. As time passes the carbon monoxide is oxygenated and is replaced by oxygen turning it brown once again.

Is it a problem? No, meat will turn brown even if stored at safe temperatures, it just takes longer. The only thing that prevents it from occurring is if the meat is vacuum sealed, or packed in an airtight package with oxygen absorbers. Anything else will leave enough oxygen to darken some if not all of the exposed surface of your beef.

TLDR: Is it safe to eat? Yes* the brown spots are just surface oxygenation, they affect the color/attractiveness of your beef, not its safety.

_{* If you were without power for a long time, or left the meat at room temperature for a long time, there might be safety issues... However those are not related to the brown coloration of your beef.}

Answer 2

Just looks like the frozen beef "juices" (mostly water/proteins). Thaw in fridge. Cook properly. Safe...as long as it didn't get above about 40F (4.5 C) during the power outage. If it did, I would discard out of an abundance of caution.