tesco fresh meat minging

jafsie

There was a documentary on TV about five years ago which showed Tesco selling meat during their campaign of advertising which went along the lines of "Our prices are higher because we only sell the best quality meat"

The documentary proved that what they were selling was sub standard and only fit for pet food, and since they apologised publicly we can safely assume it to be true.

They blamed the firm that packaged it for them but I would be forever suspicious of anything they say

letsbehonest

A good friend of mine is an industrial fridge engineer by that I mean he services and repairs the fridges for all the big supermarket chains, He tells some horror stories, No names but a frequent bad practice is that when a fridge kicks out and the temp drops, the produce should be scrapped and when repairs are carried out FRESH NEW produce should replace the old, not always the case (money rules) the old stuff is sometimes put back in. Look out for the tubs of partially melted ice cream that have been refrozen (bacteria problems) always feel under the layers of stacked chilled/frozen produce in the freezers/chillers are they the same cold temp between 1-5 degrees ? He has even returned the next day to see if they are behaving responsibly, sadly and alarmingly not always the case. Bacterial infection is a problem sometimes it's mild and soon passes, sometimes it's more serious. It is your health not theirs, be very aware

zappomatic

WhiteHorse wrote: »

A Sainsburys butchery manager once admitted to me that he 'recycled' meat.

A piece of beef that was at the end of its shelf life would be reused as mince and have a whole new shelf life put on it. I pointed out to him that this was very risky, but he said that they were gambling on the fact that mince was a fast moving line and would probably be out the store before it went right off.

He said it was the only way he could meet the harsh targets imposed by head office (he didn't mention his bonus though).

This was covered on an undercover TV programme a few years back too. I think there were even cases of pre-packed meat being sent back to suppliers as it neared its use by date and then processed enough and re-packed to qualify as a new product and sent back out!

I've found Waitrose and (surprisingly) Lidl meat to stay freshest the longest.

username

It could be a number of things, as I have found, mainly due to poor handling and fridges that don't work as they're supposed to.

Poor handling is one, I was at my 24 hour local blue and red stripey supermarket the other day at midnight shopping and noticed that cages of (refrigerated) stock were left in the aisles for 30 mins + whilst people filled the shelves and worked each cage.

Why not simply just leave the refrigerated cages in the refridgerated area until you have worked one and then get your next from the stockroom?

Also, duff refrigerators are another cause. There was one malfunctioning in a sainsbury's I once shopped at that appeared to freeze the chicken when it was meant to keep it refrigerated, and there appeared to be spots in the chiller cabinet where the temperature was not great. Obviously, this would affect the product quality.

In a Lidl, I once found that the entire meat fridge with chicken and beef in wasn't working properly and felt uncomfortably warm. On several occasions, I visited the store to do my shopping, and the fridge was still warm, and the products within seemed to suffer the effects - some packs of chicken was a bit off colour, packages of mince were bulging.

I made the mistake of buying chicken from that store, and it went putrid within days. Told the staff, but they seemed not bothered, or said that the fridge usually "defrosted at that time". :whistle:

So, tip is, stick your hand in the fridge? Does it feel cold, does the packaging on the product feel cold?
Examine the packets of product, are they overly bulging, has the chicken got a funny colour to it? If so, then don't buy.

vikingaero

Everyone should buy a fridge thermometer for their domestic fridges.

I've known people to shop, have lunch, meet someone for coffee and exit the supermarket some 5 hours later with the meat they have selected having been in their trolley for all that time. And how do you know that they haven't returned it to the fridge later?

Mankysteve

letsbehonest wrote: »

A good friend of mine is an industrial fridge engineer by that I mean he services and repairs the fridges for all the big supermarket chains, He tells some horror stories, No names but a frequent bad practice is that when a fridge kicks out and the temp drops, the produce should be scrapped and when repairs are carried out FRESH NEW produce should replace the old, not always the case (money rules) the old stuff is sometimes put back in. Look out for the tubs of partially melted ice cream that have been refrozen (bacteria problems) always feel under the layers of stacked chilled/frozen produce in the freezers/chillers are they the same cold temp between 1-5 degrees ? He has even returned the next day to see if they are behaving responsibly, sadly and alarmingly not always the case. Bacterial infection is a problem sometimes it's mild and soon passes, sometimes it's more serious. It is your health not theirs, be very aware

As long as the fridge is striped down within a certain time limit and placed in another fridge its fine.

We lost our entire fresh fridge section a few months back where i work. Twice in two days. We lost minimal stock as it all got crammed into the fridges in the back.

There instruction about max temps and how long each product type is allowed. Some products in fridges aren't even required to be chilled. Ie butters.

Did have lots of mark down though next few days.

Mankysteve

username wrote: »

So, tip is, stick your hand in the fridge? Does it feel cold, does the packaging on the product feel cold?
Examine the packets of product, are they overly bulging, has the chicken got a funny colour to it? If so, then don't buy.

That not necessary true. Shop fridges and freezer go though defrost cycles where temp can into above freezing temp/above normally temps for a period of time can't remember the exact period.

Best thing to d is feel the products themselves. You'd be suprised how warm a freezer get on its defrost cycle.

Coopdivi

I must be the only person on MSE who's never had rotten meat from a supermarket.

rev229

I don't buy any meat from tescos as it is always tasteless. I will but it from sainsburys, waitrose or costco wich is fine. No longer have a butchers as e closed, but when I did his meat was much cheaper and taste fantastic. I usually fill my freezer with fresh meat taht is reduced from waitrose.