The USDA finds Giant has been playing games with the labeling of the meat as I said back in August.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/13/giant-changed-its-meat-labeling-practices-the-usda-didnt-appreciate-it/?tid=pm_pop

Figures...their marketing department came up with the idea. What a lowlife move, typical of Giant.

And meat dept is losing more money then they did when they cut meat in the stores. They have a these "Yes" men that know nothing about the meat business and they have destroyed Giant as you know them. So sad from King to court jester.

So whats the best chain? Wegmans, hairy titties, SFW?

Larry Meadows, a Department of Agriculture official who is one of the people charged with overseeing the nation’s meat supply, said in an interview that the action was problematic. “We’ve never seen anyone use anything like the ‘USDA graded’ label before,” said Meadows, associate deputy administrator of the USDA’s livestock, poultry and feed program. “The label is truthful, but it’s also misleading.”

Meadows said one reason a company might use a more generic label is to save money, or to blur the impact of introducing an unusually high amount of lower-quality beef.

So Giant is getting their ass kicked by stores like Wegmans that offer higher quality at lower prices, and Giant's response is to lower quality even further?

Smart.

Tempest in a teapot. The shelves of every grocery store are lined with products making phony claims. Not dishonest, of course. Just phony. Meanwhile, stores like Wegman's, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, MOM's, and Fresh Market are niche grocers. Giant rules the roost with Safeway a distant second and SFW not really in the big picture in third. Given a lot of time, maybe Harris Teeter can make some inroads, but it won't happen quickly.

Marketing genius Wrote:
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> So Giant is getting their ass kicked by stores
> like Wegmans that offer higher quality at lower
> prices, and Giant's response is to lower quality
> even further?
>
> Smart.

Remember that these are Ahold people, not Giant people, making the decisions.

Is it even beef? Horse? Buffalo? Yak? I am done with Giant...will not shop there anymore. Too many options to put up with their shenanigans when it comes to my food.
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Al the Butcher Wrote:
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> Is it even beef? Horse? Buffalo? Yak? I am
> done with Giant...will not shop there anymore.
> Too many options to put up with their shenanigans
> when it comes to my food.

You're an asshole. Just sayin'. Maybe learn how to re-size graphics after you steal them.

Coming next to your Giant Meat Cooler...pre-packaged, ready roasted canine.
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I just bought some thin ribeyes the other day that were in those packages.
I was going to make some steak and cheese subs.
They were the worse I have ever had, they were so tough it was like jerky.
Never again.

I've worked for Giant over 20 years, but I don't trust Stop and Shop or Ahold. They relabeled the precut stuff, and pushed it out of their warehouse in Pa. But I know to supply all the stores, there has to be a serious amount of back stock. Since, the meat is packed in gas, it could be a week old before it's shipped out. Then in the stores, it could be another week before it goes out of date. In other words, I'm not sure the labeling is correct. I'm not sure how long before they get rid of all the Select meat and resupplied with Choice. They have lied in the article about any store carrying the Select label. No store currently carries the label..

Giant sells pink slime Wrote:
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> So whats the best chain? Wegmans, hairy titties,
> SFW?

Heh heh, "hairy titties". I call it "Hairless Tweeter"...imagery left to the reader's imagination!

Giant doesn't pay or train the workers in Pa to deliver quality meat. The workers don't know enough to properly trim so people get their money's worth. Giant's solution is now to outsource the Angus and prime beef to other companies. It will be shrinkwrapped so it will last for a month or so and gives them an excuse to raise the cost a bit. The customer won't really see what they are buying until they get home and remove the wrapping. Angus and prime only come premeasured and cut,no special orders. Special cuts of Choice (that 2 inch ribeye for the grill) will still take 2 days to arrive after ordering.

I do all my meat buying from Safeway now, as I can get the cuts and size I want.

To all the anti-Giant people, do you even know the real world? Giant is still the best. Wegmans/Harris Teeter/Whole Foods/TJ's is a disgrace to retailing.

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- Savage Vro Fartian was here -

Wow! Neahmiah Cohen....founder of Giant Foods...is probably rolling over in his grave! My dad used to be head meat buyer under him and then later...my dad is still alive and he hates this...so do I! So sad to see this going away! It is now everywhere! No more butchers!

I purchase my beef from a family beef farm in Pennsylvania. The raise and slaughter the beef on their land, and sell full, halfs, and quarter sides of beef. They cut to the customers requirements - Thickness or fat percentage.

I like 1" NY Strips and T-Bones, and ground beef at 15% fat content.

All comes vacuum packed, labeled, and flash frozen to -20F.

They take cash, good check - NO CARDS.

Good riddance, fat, lazy, overpaid union thugs!

Safeway and Whole food still use butchers to cut the meat on site. Whole food has a good selection but a tad more expensive.

Journeyman Meatcutter Wrote:
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> They have told all cutters that giant will be
> going to prepackaged meat around November 2013.
> New contract then also because contract has to be
> changed to be able to bring in pre-cut meat. I
> wonder how do they know this will pass? They are
> already building plant in York Pa. Giant was build
> on service. Customers of giant do not alway care
> about price as long as they get great service do
> no after the price giant will lose customer when
> they start this. Fact: how many ecolirecalls did
> giant have when they ground all ground beef in
> house? 0. How many now it comes in pre-ground? 10

Journeymab Meatcutter Wrote:
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> Not that ether. Because of the great union
> contract I have I will retire with 30 years of
> service at the young age of 53 with full benifits.
> But I'm the type of worker most would die to have.
> How many 53 year olds can say they worked 30 years
> at the same place. Not many and I'm sure J Hoffa
> can not say that. You'll be working till your 70
> to get.
>
> Next Novenber is the plan to start the prepack.
> Giant just went thru a contact and it is for only
> 19 months which seemed strange at the time because
> most of our contracts were for 4 to 5 years but we
> now all know why. They have to change the contract
> to be able to have the meat cut elsewhere.
>
> Yea, the union is screwing us. They are not
> helping the meatcutters at all. Most full time
> meatcutters were put down to part time last
> december and the union did nothing.


I have noticed that Giant meat prices have been lower the last few years. I guess this pre cutting had something to do with it.

I still guys coming out from the back to put meat in the bins, but I guess they aren't cutting it on site any more.

This union guy doesn't realize that in this competitive market place, customers want lower costs.

I haven't noticed any decrease in the quality of the Giant Meat since this change. In fact, this is the first I ever heard of it.

I do miss Bottom Dollar and Food Lion

Both seem to have left the area

Bottom Dollar didn't sell meat but had great prices.

I would buy meat at Safeway and everything else at Bottom Dollar.


$100 of goods at Bottom Dollar cost roughly $140 at Safeway.

Why?

One of the reasons was UNION v. NON-UNION Labor

I shop for price and quality.

Who cares how the store "looks." Well, yeah, women do care.

It is sad to see the labels on the package too "USDA GRADED"

Not even a choice cut? I don't expect prime rib in my local supermarket, but graded sounds like it barely passed with a D- I would say a choice is a C and a Select is a B and Prime is an A...

It's like saying their meat is one cut above Alpo Dog Food.

Never again!!!

From: http://www.fooducate.com/app#!page=post&id=57A35098-1187-A9B6-47A6-8D299A8C1630

Here is how the USDA ranks the beef you buy:


Prime grade is almost never found in supermarkets. This beef is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking (broiling, roasting, or grilling).

Choice grade is still of high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib. They are very tender, juicy, and flavorful. They also do well with dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts, such as those from the rump, round, and blade chuck, can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Such cuts will be most tender if “braised” — roasted, or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.

Select grade is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts (loin, rib, sirloin) should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.

Standard grade is frequently sold as ungraded or as “store brand” meat.

Commercial grade is much the same as Standard grade.

Utility grade is seldom, if ever, sold at retail. It is used to make ground beef and processed products.

Cutter grade - same as above.

Canner grade - same as above.

You can rule Giant out since the prepack is chain-wide. You can also rule out any chains that buy shitty meat at the corporate level for their stores.

But chains that still have butchers in the stores have to be rated store by store since butchers carry a lot of clout within a supermarket and usually have plenty of latitude over how they run their departments.

For example, the Safeway on OKM and Lee Chapel has one of the lousiest market departments I've ever seen while the Safeway on the 123 end of Burke Center Parkway consistently has very good meat and seafood.

Unions kill jobs yet again. Join a union, make short-term income increase, and kill businesses and jobs in long run. So obvious, a union thug should be able to understand.

giant has more issues with it than just how foods are packaged.


their employees are assholes.

Some are fat, but just about all of them are lazy!

Hell, I saw a Giant commercial the other day that had a butcher in it hold up a roast or something (not pre-packaged) to show a customer. His ass was behind a counter and everything. False advertising!

At the Burke Centre and now the Kings Park Shopping Center location, a guy there named Philip seems to always have a problem with keeping one and rarely another checkout lane open during the evening. Sometimes the line gets backed up with customers, but that does not seem to bother him.

Now I see part of the reason why Giant seems to be going down the tubes...

be glad its prepack now. theres a reason customers arent allowed in the back areas even if you knew how moldy most giant stores are the staff dont know how to even use soap dispensers. not to mention the health inspector racket they have gooing on. litterally the managers are trained to block or delay the inspectors while other employees scramble to fix it last min. the absolute worst is the delly... not once but almost weekly i watched people redate out of date foods.

and if your food smells odd or has a chemical smell. thats the block white from suma. the clerks use block white windex and spitfire interchangeably and often the chemicals are left on the machines. and the so called sanitizer is almost never sanitizer ussually its just water in a fancy spray bottle to make customers think the meat clerk is actually cleaning .