Case-ready beef

[Rail Paul]

The Saturday NY Times has an article about the rapid expansion of case-ready beef in NY area supermarkets.

Case-ready meat is prepared in regional service centers, and delivered in a container which goes directly into the meat case. It differs from boxed-beef which is delivered to the market in a box, and finished by butchers in the market, and may be placed in the meat case in a local container. Carcass delivery to supermarkets largely ended in the 1980s.

Wal-Mart uses only case-ready beef since its loss in a butcher's union organizing situation in Jacksonville FL. Pathmark and Shop-Rite use a mixture of both CRB and BB in most Northeast stores. A new Pathmark in Staten island is the first to eliminate local butchers entirely.

CRB is usually delivered in a styrofoam container, from which air has been driven by an injection of nitrogen and or carbon dioxide. A saline solution may also be injected into some cuts. Critics argue the liquid content of meat may exceed 12%, and "other chemicals" may be added. Some critics are calling for disclosure legislation.

Case-Ready Beef

[Jinmyo]

Egad. It's Wal-Meat.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

Now how is that gonna effect pricing? Will the removal of the *middle man* namely the butcher, reduce price or will the processing before the store increase it.

Hey CO2 doesnt grow on trees yknow

How if at all will it effect flavor and quality. Does being left intact on the slab of meat until its cut and packaged in the store have any effect? Im theorizing, right or wrong, I dont know, if the sooner its cut and packaged...does that have any effect on it? Such as moisture (fluid) loss etc.

[Rail Paul]

Now how is that gonna effect pricing?  Will the removal of the *middle man* namely the butcher, reduce price or will the processing before the store increase it.

Hey CO2 doesnt grow on trees yknow 

How if at all will it effect flavor and quality.  Does being left intact on the slab of meat until its cut and packaged in the store have any effect?  Im theorizing, right or wrong, I dont know, if the sooner its cut and packaged...does that have any effect on it?  Such as moisture (fluid) loss etc.

The butcher is still in the picture, but at a regional center, where she can be watched and supervised. No more smoking out on the loading dock, making out with the guy in produce, etc. (The move to a larger facility is surprising, though, since larger places are much easier to unionize.)

In theory, the store will have fresher meat on Sunday night, when there's no butcher, or overnight, for those places which are open. I wouldn't bet on that, however.

Wal-Mart is driving incredible changes in retailing. We are probably only 1/3 of the way through the process, which will relentlessly grind many merchants in the middle.

(Costco, by comparison, still has butchers in many of its stores, and cuts much of its beef locally. And, has rock bottom prices. I'm assuming their butchers are non-union, but i don't know that for certain.)

[tommy]

i saw something similar to this at Wegman's this weekend. (wegman's is amazing. it was my first time there). portions of beef tenderloin, pork chop, chicken breast, etc, shrink wrapped and in the refrig case. looked very odd to me.

[Ruth]

Yuk

Ruth Friedman

[Rail Paul]

i saw something similar to this at Wegman's this weekend. (wegman's is amazing.  it was my first time there).  portions of beef tenderloin, pork chop, chicken breast, etc, shrink wrapped and in the refrig case.  looked very odd to me.

Wegman's is an adventure, I never fail to be impressed with something there.

The two Shop-Rites I visit have had their beef tenderloins vac shrink wrapped for years. Ten pound pieces in pre-paks. The butcher will open them and cut into request sized mignons, etc.

[tommy]

The two Shop-Rites I visit have had their beef tenderloins vac shrink wrapped for years. Ten pound pieces in pre-paks. The butcher will open them and cut into request sized mignons, etc.

sure, but a case of individual portions looks, and is, strange.

[fyfas]

With respect to the comment about larger, "regional" butchering yielding easier to unionize facilities, my recollection is that Wal-Mart's move to this type of butchering (being supplied by regional wholesalers) was a direct result of efforts to unionize their in-store butchers a few years ago.

In other words, rather that allow a union, make the operation at "arms-length" and fire the employees en-masse who might have benefited/agitated for the union.

Just a thought... I have all I can do to buy bird seed at a Wal-Mart.

[Rail Paul]

With respect to the comment about larger, "regional" butchering yielding easier to unionize facilities, my recollection is that Wal-Mart's move to this type of butchering (being supplied by regional wholesalers) was a direct result of efforts to unionize their in-store butchers a few years ago.

In other words, rather that allow a union, make the operation at "arms-length" and fire the employees en-masse who might have benefited/agitated for the union.

Just a thought... I have all I can do to buy bird seed at a Wal-Mart.

There's much truth to that statement. The immediate situation was a union representation / certification election in Jacksonville TX, as I recall. The result was a successful application for representation by the local butchers (7 of 10 voted for representation). Additional representation efforts were underway in other areas.

Rather than face union butchers in the stores, WMT outsourced the meat cutting to independent firms which run the regional cutting centers. The local butchers, who lost their jobs at WMT, had to apply for new jobs at the regional place, with a new employer.

According to a quick google search, major efforts are underway by the UFCW to unionize Wal-Mart workers in several states. A major fight is rolling in Washington State where Teamsters represent workers in several stores which will be hurt by a planned Wal-Mart

Olympian in Washington

edited to change state and add WA state details

Edited February 16, 2003 by Rail Paul (log)

[Suzanne F]

Thanks for the heads-up. Since I do much of my shopping at Food Emporium (which can have some good meat) and Pathmark (not), I'll be on the lookout. Finally a strong reason to get off my duff and walk to real butcher shops in Chinatown and further uptown.

[Mottmott]

There's another good reason to shop at real butcher shops. If we don't, they will disappear, totally. I suppose in some small towns they already have.

[pogophiles]

So did they just not have the same problems at their Sam's Clubs? IIRC, they still have butchers on-site...

[fifi]

Went to the local Kroger. They had chuck roast on sale. I found one that was incredibly marbled. (Mutant cow?) This was in the typical plastic tray.

Said chuck roast became an inspiration to try the basic boeuf a la mode from my new Peterson book.

Oops! Need to make glace de viande. Go to local HEB. (They have odd parts of animals for making stocks.) OH MY GOD! The oxtails are in those funny shrink wrapped things! They do look odd. Buy some. Expensive! Oxtails and neck bones total up to over $18.

With mushrooms and other stuff (I am messing with the recipe. Peterson seems to encourage that.) my little pot roast is now topping $20!

Flash back to a month ago when I did this recipe from a Chinese friend for a braise of a fresh ham. I went to the local asian market that has a REAL butcher shop. The butcher presented the WHOLE pig haunch (complete with the trotter) to me and allowed me to indicate were I wanted him to cut a shank portion. This turned out to be the most gorgeous hunk of pork I have worked with in a long time.

Moral of the story... I am going to drive a few more miles and support my Chinese butcher. The only problem is, Sam's is about the only place to reliably get USDA Choice beef around here.

Is this a moral problem?

[Nick]

A few years ago I was working on new designs for very small waterpower wheels and had a free subscription to Modern Plastics, a monthly industry trade mag. One month featured a long article on advances being made in food packaging - particularly for meat. It was fascinating and a bit scary. For instance, one company had come up with a way to keep ground meat (hamburger) "fresh" for up to six weeks.

I just did a search at Modern Plastic's website and couldn't find the article, but did come up with this which gives an idea of the "advances" being made that will make long distance prep and shelf life possible.

Edited February 23, 2003 by Nickn (log)