Blood puddles, mold, tainted meat, bugs: Boar’s Head inspections are horrifying

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to News@lemmy.world – 8 points –
Blood puddles, mold, tainted meat, bugs: Boar’s Head inspections are horrifying
arstechnica.com

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.

62

The USDA recorded 69 violations in a year.

Nice

Sooo... a typical slaughterhouse, then. Sounds like someone didn't prep for the scheduled visit.

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

Eventually you just do it yourself.

Lots of people here do themselves all the time.

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!

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

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

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.

40 years ago they were one of the top brands for quality

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.

you don't want to see what the meat industry is like in southeast asia

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?

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.

You get used to the cruelty. It may feel wrong for a short period of time, but you get used to and at some point don't care. I currently work at a small(about 200 pigs) "piglet farm", where they raise pigs and sell them to other farmers. Part of the morning routine involves cutting the tails and teeth's of all new born piglets. It was quite of a shock at the beginning, but even after 1 week I realise it being jot as shocking ad in the beginning, even though I still absolutely hat it for having to do this. Luckyly I only have to work there for 3 more weeks.

Ever worry you’ll be reincarnated as a pig?

No being within conditioned existence escapes ageing, sickness, and death. Being slaughtered for meat is probably not anyone's preference, but all beings will die.

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.

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...

Friendly reminder that meat is a choice and its a shit one.

Friendly reminder that nobody asked you for your opinion on others choices, and it's a shit one.

Don't you have some cats to torture with a vegan diet or something?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Also, there’s a not-insignificant number of people who have a fridge (at least a tiny one) but no oven.

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.

This is why you too should become vegan. It's tough the first week but it gets easier and eventually you just wonder why people still murder animals to consume their flesh like uneducated barbarians.

For 1, humans arent herbivores

No, they are omnivores, meaning that they do not require meat.

Fuck you. I'm gonna go kill something and eat it, just because you pissed me off with this stupid dunbass comment.