What do pork chops smell like when they go bad?

Is it time to say goodbye to the pork chops in your fridge? Trust your senses, not the sell-by date on the label.

Pork chops: they’re cheaply available at any grocery store and can easily be turned into a variety of delicious family meals.

Fry them, slap them on the grill, or slide them under the broiler; they will be just as juicy and tender either way. You can even prepare them in advance, then store them in the fridge and enjoy them over the next few days.

But don’t keep pork chops in the fridge too long, whether they’re raw or cooked, or they’ll go bad and you’ll have to throw them away. If in doubt, see our guide on how to tell if pork chops have gone bad.

To tell if pork chops are bad, use common sense and trust your senses. As with any other meat, nothing in their looks, aroma, and consistency should be a cause of concern.

Pork chops have gone bad when they’re dull and gray, the fat around the edges has turned yellow and gone rancid, they smell sour, musty, or putrid, and/or they’re sticky and slimy to the touch.

Follow the three steps below to determine whether or not the pork chops in your kitchen have gone bad. And remember food safety rule number one: “When in doubt, throw them out.”

1. Look Them Over

Raw pork chops should be a lively, bright pink, with a dark red or purple tinge if they are from pasture-raised pigs. The fat around the edges should be white (a slight pink tinge is fine) and pasty, like lard.

Spoiled pork chops have lost their vibrant colors and have become lifeless and gray, in some cases with a greenish or bluish cast. The fat around the edges may have turned rancid and yellow, and fuzzy mold may or may not have formed on the flesh.

2. Give Them a Sniff

Hold the pork chops up to your nose and sniff them inquisitively. Does anything smell off to you?

Fresh pork chops should smell meaty and porky. Fattier cuts may even smell slightly creamy from the lard. Regardless of the cut, nothing in the pork chops’ smell should make you cringe or raise eyebrows.

If the pork chops smell sour, like cheap vinegar, musty, like wet oakmoss, or putrid, like the rotting flesh of roadkill, then they’ve gone bad and you shouldn’t cook and eat them. Not only will their taste be sickening when cooked, but they may give you food poisoning.

3. Do the Touch Test

Touch the pork chops and feel the meat.

Fresh pork chops feel firm and springy. The muscles hold their shape and the meat itself feels moist and clean, almost like you’re touching the inside of your palm.

Pork chops gone bad feel dull and mushy. The muscles can no longer hold their shape, so your fingers sink in when you touch them. The meat itself feels sticky and slimy, in a way that sounds the alarm and makes you compulsively wash your hands before you touch anything else.

What Makes Pork Chops Go Bad?

If you keep pork chops long enough, they will spoil and become unsafe to eat.

Spoilage bacteria, fungi, and yeasts grow on pork chops and give them a disgusting smell, taste, and mouthfeel. These bacteria are generally harmless, but they aren’t the only type of bacteria that grow on the meat.

Not only do pork chops gone bad taste disgusting, but they can also become overgrown with disease-causing bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, and others.

Unlike spoilage bacteria, disease-causing pathogens are virtually undetectable. They don’t alter the smell, taste, or mouthfeel of our food in any way. Ingesting them—and the heat-resistant toxins they produce—can lead to life-threatening food poisoning.

If you’ve kept raw pork chops in the fridge for more than 3 to 5 days, or cooked pork chops for more than 3 to 4 days, throw them away and don’t eat them. Yes, cooking or reheating the chops will kill the bacteria on the surface, but it won’t get rid of the toxins they’ve left inside.

Similarly, if your pork chops show any of the above signs of spoilage, assume that they’ve gone bad and understand that you have no way of determining their safety. To minimize food waste, only buy as much pork as you can your family can eat, and freeze any raw or cooked pork that you don’t plan to eat within a few days.

In Conclusion

Pork chops gone bad are gray, putrid, and lifelessly mushy. Remember that pork chops shouldn’t sit for more than 5 days in your fridge raw and 4 days in your fridge cooked, and always check for the signs of spoilage before cooking or eating them.

The color, texture, and odor are how to tell if pork is bad. There are other indicators, however.

I had to learn how to tell if meat was good or bad pretty early on in my culinary career. This is one of the first things they taught us since the last thing you want to do is to give your diners food poisoning!

In this post, I will show you how to determine if pork is bad as well as what you can do to keep it fresh for longer. Let’s get started!

Main Signs Pork Has Gone Bad

Here are some of the indicators on how to tell if pork is bad:

The Smell

If you suspect the meat has gone bad, the first thing that you need to do is to hold a sniff test. Do this the moment that you open the packaging of the raw pork. If you get an unpleasant scent, then chances are it has gone bad. Rotten pork smells sour – detect any off smell, though, and you should probably discard it immediately.

I should warn you that some packaged pork has a faint smell of ammonia, which can seem like a sour smell. This is all because of how the meat is processed and packaged, though. If you wash the pork, the smell should dissipate. If the odor is still strong after a while, though, then you may not want to eat it.

The Texture

If the smell isn’t giving you enough of a heads up, then it is time to handle the meat. Go ahead and pick it up – does it have a slimy film on it? Then, this is a sign that bacteria has begun to multiply on the surface of the meat. It is too far gone and it is time to toss the meat.

Changes in Color

I don’t recommend only going by color changes when trying to figure out if the pork has gone bad. This is because color changes are pretty normal with meat. Yes, a strong pink meat with clear white fat is best with pork.

However, if it is a bit paler or even appears to be grey, the meat is still safe for you to consume. You should only worry if there is a greenish hue or green spots on the meat.

Related Reading

• In the Know: How to Tell If a Steak is Bad

Other Indicators of Spoiled Pork

Here are some other signs that the pork is bad:

The Expiration Date

To be honest unless I am cooking in a restaurant, I use expiration dates as guidelines. This is because it is typically a sell by date – something to tell stores that this product is no longer safe to sell, but not consume.

When it comes to fresh pork – or any meat in general – I take this date very seriously. Fresh meat can spoil very easily. What’s more, the consequences of eating spoiled meat are serious. This is why you should pay attention to the expiration date as well.

Puffed Up Packaging

In some cases, you won’t even have to open up the packaging to know that your pork is bad. If the packaging is all puffed up, then this means that bacteria has begun to multiply inside. The bacteria is producing gases which is why the packaging appears puffy.

In some cases, the manner in which pork is processed before it is packaged can cause the packaging to bloat. Therefore, you may want to cut it open and take a whiff of the meat before you make a decision.

How Long Before Pork Goes Bad?

Now that you know all the signs of spoilage, it is important to know how long before your pork goes bad. This will give you an idea of the window that you have once you have brought home pork from the grocery store.

Fresh pork chops, fresh ground pork, fresh pork loin, and fresh pork shoulder can last for 2 to 3 days in the fridge. Frozen pork can last for up to 6 to 8 months. Remember, this is barring any drops in the refrigerator temperature or any power outages. This can cause raw pork to spoil.

Cooked pork can last for around one week in the fridge. When frozen, it can last for 6 to 8 months.

How Long is Pork Good in the Fridge?

There is no doubt that keeping fresh or cooked pork in the fridge is a good way to stave off spoilage. This is because most bacteria thrive in a range of temperatures known as the Danger Zone – 40 and 140 °F. At this point, the bacteria can double in as little as 20 minutes.

Still, there is bacteria that can thrive in cold temperatures as well. Then, how long does pork last in the fridge? If the cold or frozen pork has been left out for any period of time, then it is possible that bacteria can have settled on it. They will then continue to multiply in the fridge.

You should also know that if the pork chops or pork loin has already started to go bad, putting it in the refrigerator isn’t going to stop it from spoiling.

Can You Cook Pork If It is Bad?

Lets face it, no one wants to throw away meat that they have spent money on! This is why I will often get desperate phone calls from friends or family members asking me if they can cook and eat pork that is bad.

As much as I hate to burst your bubble, the answer is no. Yes, when cooking pork the heat does kill the bacteria to a certain degree. The problem is that these bacteria produce toxins that can’t be destroyed by the cooking process. These toxins can still cause food poisoning.

What Happens If You Eat Bad Pork?

Let’s imagine that you are willing to throw caution to the wind and risk it all – what will happen if you ate some bad pork chops?

Well, you can get a foodborne illness- here are the symptoms you can suffer from:

• Stomach cramps
• Diarrhea
• Nausea and vomiting
• Headaches
• Fever
• Abdominal bloating and gas

What Causes Premature Spoilage?

Lets imagine that you have opened your package of pork before its sell by date and you have noticed a sour odor or that it is has gone bad. What’s to blame for this pork spoilage?

Well, this is probably because the pork has left out, uncovered, in too-warm temperatures beforehand. Improper storage can also contribute to this issue. If the pork wasn’t stored in a cold enough area, then the bacteria is able to grow and multiply.

How to Keep Pork Fresh for Longer

Here are some tips on how to keep your raw meat fresh and to avoid food poisoning:

Choose a Good Source

Always choose your pork from a reputable source such as a well-known butcher or a good grocery store. This ensures that the producers have taken care to process and store the pork meat properly. This reduces the risk of bacteria settling on the pork.

Transport Pork Carefully

Unless it is a very short trip to your home, it is best to go prepared to transport pork meat properly. I would advise taking proper storage bags – the ones that have been designed to lock the cold in. I would take some ice packs as well to ensure that the meat is kept at a stable temperature.

Put in Cold Storage Immediately

Finally, put the meat in the refrigerator or freezer immediately once you get home. Don’t keep it in your car or out on the counter for more than a few minutes.

Unless you can guarantee that you will be cooking the meat the next day, I would suggest that you freeze it.

Defrost the Meat Carefully

If your meat has been frozen for a while, then it is just as important for you to defrost the pork carefully. The safest option is to leave it in a covered container in the refrigerator to thaw. This can take twelve hours or longer depending on the size of the pork cut.

If you don’t have as much time to spare I would use the cold water method – place the slab of pork in ice water and let it thaw on the kitchen counter. This should take significantly less time. It is a good idea to cover the meat with a large pan or bowl to avoid contamination.

This is all that you need to know on how to tell if pork is bad. As you can see, there is a lot more information to digest than you first realize – no pun intended!

The truth is that it can often take you a while to tell the difference between good and bad pork. Learning this skill is important to keeping you and your family healthy. As such, I would argue that it is worth the time and effort.

So, make a note of these tips and keep them in mind the next time that you are handling pork. These guidelines could save your life or at the very least, a trip to the doctor.

By Kristy J. Norton

I'm Kristy – a chef and connoisseur of all things BBQ! You can find me either in my kitchen (or someone else's) or at a big outdoor barbecue surrounded by friends and family. In both my professional and personal life I’ve picked up more than a few tips and tricks for turning out delicious food. I consider it a privilege to share it with others!

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