If you shop at Walmart (I wish you wouldn’t) and buy meat there, you need to know the change that the corporation has made. You may still see people dressed like butchers there, but they are not the ones cutting the meat, and they won’t, even if you ask for a special cut. That’s because Walmart has moved to pre-packaged, display-case ready meats. You know, in a tray that covers all but the top, which has cellophane on it.
What this means for you: Because the suppliers are doing the cutting and packaging, often in far-away cities, the meat is not as fresh as if cut on-site by butchers. It also means that you aren’t the only one guessing at what’s under the visible top; Walmart butchers don’t know, either, unless they were to unwrap and re-wrap each package, which, of course, they won’t do because it costs too much. Since the butchers have no quality control, you may end up opening the package to find more fat than you expected or brownish, aging meat.
Walmart says they’ve changed their procedure to ensure “the highest quality [they] can provide.” Employees find the timing suspicious–right after the butchers at a Texas Walmart successfully joined the first ever independent trade union in a Walmart.
Whatever the reason, Walmart shopper, beware.