On July 17, the inspector found “green algal growth” in a puddle of standing water in a raw holding cooler. And on July 27, an inspector noted clear liquid leaking out from a square patch on the ceiling. Behind the patch, there were two other patches that were also leaking. An employee came and wiped the liquid away with a sponge, but it returned within 10 seconds. The employee wiped it again, and the liquid again returned within 10 seconds. Meanwhile, a ceiling fan mounted close by was blowing the leaking liquid onto uncovered hams in a hallway outside the room.
A picture of hell.
Every single major retailer with a deli section near me has switched to boar’s head within the last 2-3 years… guess they undercut everyone else on bids and got good contracts by violating health and safety laws, the American capitalist way!
And yet boar’s head is consistently more expensive than anything else.
Stores love the markup
Consumers HATE this one simple trick!
Nobody said the cost savings was gonna get passed to the consumer. What are ya, a commie?
In Nov 2020, the person that ran things for years died, and control passed to other family members that immediately sued each other.
I’m any case, seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.
seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.
Thank god this is an isolated incident in corporate America. /s
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In
any case, seems greed likely started to drive everything, they pushed expansion over safety, and wound up killing people.
Chiquita, Nestle, and Boeing have entered the chat.
Boeing and Boar’s head are killing people because of incompetence and cost cutting. Chiquita and Nestle go out in the jungle and massacre people at regular intervals just because those people don’t want to be slaves and having to pay workers hurts the bottom line.
I put them in different categories.
a story as old as time… one person spends their life building an empire, their spoiled brat children immediately tear it down screaming
new season of succession fell off
40 years ago they were one of the top brands for quality
I feel you could say this about every american company that has been around for 40 plus years. Enshittification is a real bitch
It used to be a badge of honor to have a label footnote like “est. 1937”, but now I feel that just clarifies the enshittification time delta.
It depends on the business. Highly competitive and volatile ones, like restaurants, can still be judged by longevity, in my opinion.
The only exception to this rule is the Chili’s on 45th Street and Lamar in Austin, Texas, which exists in a timeless negative space where businesses can not die. Will not die. They are watching.
One of the weirder things about getting old is seeing shit like “making weeblefetzers since 2005” on store signs.
Race to the bottom.
I remember that! They were more a specialty brand that you’d find in more upscale grocery stores. Now they’re just boring, apparently disgusting, processed meat like every other brand.
they’re just boring
boaring*
Having managed a supermarket for about 6 years, I can tell you it’s because of the service, consistent quality and variety of choices. Their service model is similar to many of the larger bread vendors in that they sell via consignment. So you only buy what you open to sell, and they take back anything that expires or looks dodgy. Their sales reps maintain your inventory and place your orders, really saving you alot of time and reducing your risk.
Im glad the German deli and regional super market go through more local organizations. Im also glad we can maintain damned near every type of livestock as well.
The Jungle 2: Salmonella Boogaloo
Listeria Hysteria
My favorite part of that book was when it revealed that workers would go missing from time to time and later be found at the bottom of a lard rendering vat. Ha ha!
I don’t know if I can say I have a “favorite” part of the book. The whole thing was just horrifying. I think I spent the entire time reading it with my mouth wide open.
And how little has changed…
I think I spent the entire time reading it with my mouth wide open.
As a procession of cute cartoon animals jumped in. “Eat me!!!”
After the book came out congress was shockingly fast to pass new laws. It turns out the plant profiled in the book had the contract for the congressional cafeteria. That’s how you get political change.
Y’all would be fucking horrified by the state of food manufacturing if you knew.
I used to work at a food processing and distribution company, in the document processing department… we weren’t strictly supposed to read the audits, especially the internal ones, but we did, to make sure they were complete and compliant, which was our job. Also our job was intensely boring and we needed something to gossip about.
The number of our distributors (first level manufacturing) who got C or D grades on their inspections… fucking gross. I reported a few of them, but the company did not care.
Before that I worked at a chicken hatchery. The cultures I cultured -doing an audit just like those I read later in life- were sooooo gross and problematic. But I was instructed to cover it up because, and this is important context, it was all self report after the initial inspection. I was doing this at 16, and was likely significantly more thorough than any veteran employee would have been. (Absolutely not why I was chosen; they chose me due to incredibly mild nepotism, as my manager was my step-dad, and he knew science stuff was up my alley… plus I was a filler worker, being under 18.)
I really hope things have improved, but somehow I doubt that the past 20 years has made a positive impact from my audit experience. (The document processing was less than 10 years ago, supporting my belief nothing has changed for the better.)
In case you still have any actionable info or if someone else finds themselves in a similar situation then please read through here and consider documenting and reporting what you observe. https://usdaoig.oversight.gov/
“Thank god for the hatchery” - Norm
Not where I expected that to go, but then… I never know where to expect comedians to go… I think that’s the point.
Anyway, keeping to the subject, when I worked at the hatchery there was this guy… he was the guy who killed all the male babies, and that was his whole job… he was fucking weird, in a bad way, and we all gave him tons of space. It didn’t bother him at all to kill thousands of birds in a single day as just his normal job. That’s all.
Norm in particular you rarely would know where he was going.
He honestly isn’t really my cup of tea… I love stand-up, but his stuff always just felt wrong to me, and not like politically wrong but…
Norm-violating wrong.
(Hehehehehehehe)
Damn dude
My bad. I’m not a comedian. Idk where the line is between “so real it’s funny” and “so real it’s not funny”… it’s just a thing I experienced.
So here we are.
Sorry.
No worries, not everything needs to be funny
A picture of hell but a libertarian heaven.
When people live, it’s expensive; when they die, it’s cheap.
People are a renewable resource.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
It’s a meat brand.
For those just as confused as I, it’s a meat brand.
They’re not talking about an actual boar.
And it’s ‘supposed’ to be a quality brand too.
Oh man, the look on your face must have been something
I mean, they are producing several forms of pig, which if you let out will be a boar not long after. They don’t stay domesticated very well apparently.
Well yes, but it’s more the “boar’s head inspections” that makes it sound weird to those not in the know.
Well shit, thought this was the premium stuff. Fool me can’t get fooled again.
Makes you wonder what the non-premium stuff is like
It’s the same thing except instead of delicious properly prepared lean meat in a disgusting warehouse with awful cleanliness practices, it’s crappily prepared and spiced meat in a clean warehouse that’s not trying to kill you.
Eventually you just do it yourself.
Lots of people here do themselves all the time.
The USDA recorded 69 violations in a year.
Nice
Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” comes to mind.
It’s worth a read for more than just that.
Our guy wrote a book about the working class and immigrants being taken advantage of, and how they need to stand up for worker’s rights and unions. And the American public focused on their food being gross.
As Upton himself said: “I aimed for America’s heart, but I hit it in its stomach.”
Lithuanians practically built Northern Illinois during that era, not just Chicago, but Belvidere and Rockford too.
Curious, does anyone know if the Jarratt, VA Boar’s Head facility mentioned in the article employees prison labor from the Greensville Correctional Center just down the street?
What do you think
Sooo… a typical slaughterhouse, then. Sounds like someone didn’t prep for the scheduled visit.
you don’t want to see what the meat industry is like in southeast asia
It’s probably just as bad
it’s worse
I wonder how much of the state of the place upon that inspection was DUE to:
The plant has been shut down since late July
Like, did they say “we’re shutting down” and everyone just fucked off and left the place in a state?
Or was it just that bad ALL the time?
They mentioned in the article that it was inspected June 10th.
it’s The Jungle all over again
Its so much easier and safe to make your own lunch meats that I don’t get the appeal of Deli meats. My Roast Beef has 3 ingredients. The meat itself along with salt and pepper and I only buy it when under $5 a pound. Recipe is stupid easy. 375°F 20 minutes a pound. Bake uncovered. Once out of the oven, cover it for 20 minutes, then let it cool off before putting it in the fridge overnight where it will tighten back up. Turkey breast is self explained because the only ingredient is turkey breast that you bake yourself. Skip all the bologna, salami, pepperoni, olive loaf, etc. and anything with nitrates. all of your own deli meat can be cooked, then froze again to use later when meat isn’t on sale.
Most things are pretty easy. One problem is having the time to do literally everything yourself. The other is deciding whether that time spent doing optional tasks is worth the time not spent doing more meaningful activities.
And wanting to eat the same thing for a week+ because making it in quantities that’s worth the time means that’s taking a lot of fridge / freezer space
It all freezes well and you thaw it out as needed. Apparently you missed that part.
taking a lot of fridge / freezer space
Maybe you forgot the freezer part.
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Also, there’s a not-insignificant number of people who have a fridge (at least a tiny one) but no oven.
Should i eat garbage today and do something worthwhile. Decisions decisions
Turkey breast is self explained because the only ingredient is turkey breast that you bake yourself.
eh you’ve gotta at least dry brine it.
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I mean yeah you could say that about anything if you just want simple. Personally, I would not cook a turkey breast without brining it in some way. If you are happy with plain roasted turkey, enjoy.
Agreed. Meats are usually best at 1 -1.5 % salt by weight. Equlibrium brines are a game changer. For boneless meat take a equal amount of weight it water to meat and set the salt to 3% water weight. It will balance out at about 1.5% salt in the meat. It takes about 24 hours per inch of thickness in the thinist side.
So 1kg meat 1kg water 30g salt.
For meat with bones reduce the meat weight in the calculation by estimating how much is bone. For a T bone reduce by about 15% for baby back ribs 40-50%.
yeah personally I prefer dry brining, but wet brine is better than nothing.
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Its so much easier and safe to make your own lunch meats that I don’t get the appeal of Deli meats.
It isn’t easier to make your own lunch meat than go ‘give me a pound of x’ at the counter, pay, and leave.
To add a bit to what you’re saying though, I’ve replaced deli meats with just regular cooked meat myself. I don’t actually care that it’s not exactly the same as a cold cut sandwich because it’s food and it usually tastes about the same if not better if you put other toppings on your sandwich.
I just grill up some chicken breast and use it in salads, sandwiches, even as pizza topping. Pretty good.
Sous vide FTW
I want to make my own turkey deli meat but literally no store around me sells turkey breast. Closest I can find is ground turkey. How do you do it?
Closest thing I can get is pre-brined Jenny-O tenderloins, but I’d rather brine them myself.
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The Roth’s and Albertson’s near me do not have any. It’s odd. Tons of chicken options though.
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Man am I glad they don’t sell this brand around here.
