How to tell if a piece of meat is fresh:

Smell it: there should be no other smells but the natural smell of fresh meat.
Look at the color. Pork has to be pink, beef should be red or dark red, and the fat is white. Mutton is light-red. If the fat is grey and the meat is brown, the meat is not fresh.
To tell if minced meat is fresh or not, also look at the color. The color of fresh minced meat is from light-pink to red, depending on the meat. Minced meat can’t be grey or can’t have dark spots.
Put the meat on a flat surface and press on it. If the cut is fresh, it will return to its shape once you remove your finger. If it’s not fresh, there will be a visible spot where you pressed. Also, the meat can’t be sticky.
If you are buying frozen meat, look at the shelf time. But if the storage conditions were bad, the meat might still be impossible to eat. Also, the refreezing of meat is a reason to not buy it if you can see pink crystals of ice on the meat and on the inside of the pack.

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