Quality of food products Vary depending where u live

[Gecko]

This wouldnt only happen in australia  depending on what area suburb you live or shop in the quality of vegies and meat  can be up to 60% or more better or worse Quality

heres part of a tests done in australia  its a pretty long post but i think worth the reading add some comments if it goes on in ur areas as well in USA or elsewhere or feel free to let us know what you think about these practices !!!

Meat quality and price can vary enormously between supermarkets and butcher's shops. But where does the best meat go?


recent investigation on fruit and vegetables found poorer suburbs were receiving poorer produce.

Laboratory tests on 2000 products bought in high and low income suburbs of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane found inferior quality produce in supermarkets and independent greengrocers in lower income suburbs.

We also revealed it was standard industry practice to dump inferior fruit and vegies in working class suburbs.

Tonight we have further disturbing findings, after our experts evaluated popular cuts of meat: lamb loin chops, sirloin, T-bones and schnitzel from Coles, Woolworths and local independent butchers.

We took samples from working class suburbs and compared them with wealthy suburbs. Our judges, celebrity TV chef Iain Hewitson and Arnaldo Colaiacolo, owner of the renowned AC Butchery, were not told which was which.

But as it turned out, the working class areas of Australia were being sold far inferior meat than those in wealthier suburbs.
"It's green, I wouldn't even feed that to my dog," Arnaldo said of one particular cut.

The neighbour's dog does end up scoffing plenty of Helen Hattersley's meat after disappointing purchases from her local supermarket.

"The quality's so bad, I can't eat it," Ms Hattersley said.

"It's often grey and old, you can tell it's been stored for weeks. I've complained and nothing's done."
Helen said the meat looked OK in the shelf, but it could be hard to tell quality in some supermarket prepackaged meats.

The latest technique, gas flushing or modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), is used extensively for Coles meats. Woolworths has claimed it is used for under 10 per cent of its meats.

Gas flushing extends the shelf life of meat by changing the mixture of gases in the packaging, flushing it with carbon dioxide, oxygen and sometimes nitrogen, then sealing the package tray with a plastic lid.

"Gas flushing tends to trick the consumer," Arnaldo said

"You never know how old a piece of meat is. It will look nice and pink, nice and fresh."

Crookwell butcher Graham Gibbs said meat was better quality at independent butchers because they bought smaller size and volume, then aged and prepared the meat themselves.

"Supermarkets have a bigger carcass than we use," Mr Gibbs explained.

"It is a 22kg carcass, whereas we use 18 to 20kg. And when you get up to those sorts of weights, you can make more money out of it, but then you fade away from the quality and the supermarkets are certainly fading away from the quality."

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[~Ãutolovér~]

Hmmmm......think I'll be buying my meat from the butchers all the time from now on.

[Gecko]

Hmmmm......think I'll be buying my meat from the butchers all the time from now on.

i can supply you some but not all sweetie pie  :-*  but it is shocking what the big s/markets are doing
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[hades]

i normally get my meat from this catering deli.its always the best quality.  ;D

[Gecko]

i normally get my meat from this catering deli.its always the best quality.  ;D

what about ur vegies  if u buy from a not  so expensive area there affected to u get second rated veggies  :o

[hades]

i dont buy many veggies but the ones i do are from this veggie market.  :)