Quote:
Originally Posted by cmohr74
I asked around before I got some of these replies and got an interesting one from a local butcher who is a Master Butcher. Supposed that means he's wicked awesome with meat. Here is his response.
"Dark Cutter is a term we give to a piece of meat that has blood left in it from slaughter or that has been bruised It has an off flavor and where is it will not make you sick, I still would not eat it. Most butchers would not allow it out into the case let alone tell you it is very rare to get one and it's all good the most likely cause of a dark cutter is.....(and I hate to tell anyone
this) is that is was a sick cow that went down at the meat plant and could not get back up. The Dark Cutters come off the side it was laying on before the plant came over with a forklift and pick it up and helped it to the kill floor."
I contacted the Rancher I purchased all of these from and let him know what others have told me. I think it truly may be a case of he is not knowledged enough in the processing part to know better. He was relaying what he heard from others so I wanted to inform him of the truth. He apologized and is replacing it ASAP.
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Highlight in red in quote absolutly not accurate. Certain breeds of cattle may be more likely to be dark cutters, and cattle that are exciteable and have been chased around (stressed) have more instance of dark cutters. I work in a commercial cattle feedlot, and do the financial settlements for the cattle sold. Some lots of cattle might have 5 to 10 head of dark cutters. Like I said earlier, it is a BIG discount when a dark cutter goes through. Also, at major packers regulations now require any animal that is not mobile to be rejected and condemned.
