Walmart's Altered Meats
By KutWrite
Meat at Walmart is Altered - be Careful!
I am not anti-Walmart. I buy their clothing, household goods, computer items, vitamins, and groceries. They are high quality, the price is always right, it's one-stop shopping, and you can easily return items that you don’t like.
However, a year or so ago I noticed the label on their beef cuts. In tiny print, it says "enhanced with 15% solution".
I asked the meat department head what the label meant. I was especially concerned what "solution" was. After all, embalming fluid is a "solution"!
She'd never noticed it before and was as mystified as I. She finally shrugged and said they'd just started buying meat from another supplier.
I bought a package of seemingly nice cuts of steak. After grilling one, I took one bite and could eat no more. It tasted rubbery and artificial - like Soylent Green must taste!
The store said I could return the uncooked remainder for a full refund. On the way there, I met a coworker. He said he liked Walmart meat even with solution injected. He's rather destitute, so I just gave the package to him.
My friend happily took the package home.
A few days later, my friend brought some home-made stew to work. He offered me some. Once I took a bite, I knew he’d used my rejected steak for it.
Feh! It tasted horrible!
I was polite to my co-worker, but I threw out the stew as soon as he left the room! What a waste of good water, spices and vegetables!
Since then, I have noticed that WM chicken is a bit rubbery. The breasts are very large for a normal chicken, indicating at least some weird breeding. The ground round seems OK. Neither it nor the chicken is marked as “enhanced with solution.” So, I continued to buy both chicken and ground beef at WM.
But lately, I read online that the USDA doesn't require chicken nor ground beef to be marked if it is "enhanced." I guess it’s another case of a federal watchdog agency helping to con us, instead of protecting us.
So now, I’ll buy all my meat at a local store that cuts its own meats. Their butcher assured me there’s no coloring nor “solution” in their products, not even their salmon.
In my little town it’s a hassle commuting to more than one grocery store, but my health and peace of mind are worth it!
What do you think?
No Solution Added
Comments
I had a steak from walmart and it did not look or even remotely taste like beef.....Unbeleiveable how bad it was...
They seal it in mother bags with little white packages in them that emit a mystery gas that preserves it, all the way from the Swift plant in Argentina.
If you only knew the rest of the story. Water added to the chicken. Carbon-dioxide added to the red meats. And you actually pay more for a lesser quility of product.
I bought the seasoned boxed chicken breasts at Wal-Mart. I was so disappointed with the texture and saltiness after the first time I cooked it. I even tried frying it once to see if that helped. It was still rubbery an spongy, even though the outside was nice and crisp looking. What a waste-I told my husband not to buy it again lol. It's almost like eating raw meat-even though it's not. Yuck!!
I quit buying beef like steak from Walmart,..thought maybe the pork would be different,...It was just as rubbery and funny tasting as the ribeyes and sirlons I had previously bought...do yourself a favor..skip Walmarts chicken beef and pork.
You chose a good topic here. I have been in the meat business since 1975, when I butchered my first steer. Since then, I have seen a lot of changes in the meat industry. Wal Mart is not the place to buy any kind of meat, period.
While it is true that they have changed meat sources, they still have a certain amount of dyes and "solutions" in their meats. I have worked on the slaughterhouse level for a major meat producer and I know for a fact that there is a solution injected in every piece of meat that goes out as a prepackaged cut. This solution where I worked consisted of Dextrose and citric acid, and some other "mystery ingredients". The meat that comes pre-packed is sometimes given a 21 day shelf life!
Your best bet is to do what you are doing, buy from a market that cuts meat in the store. But I have to disagree with you on the salmon unless you live in the pacific northwest...the only good fresh salmon is the frozen wild caught. Read my hubs about salmon and seafood, as well as "How to shop for red meat".
Have a great day!
MaryLou 23 months ago
I agree. We bought top sirloin and it was horrible. I thought it was because I marinated it for an hour, but it was too salty, rubbery and disgusting. Couldn't eat it.