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ButchB
12-06-2012, 01:25 PM
I just opened a 2 pack of butts from rest depot. I bought them last week and they have been in the fridge set at 35 degrees since i got them home. I opened them a few mins ago to start prepping and they stink pretty bad. I rinsed them off and it helped but still i've never smelled any this strong. Kinda torn on what to do. I hate to trash them but don't wanna get sick either. What would you do? Thanks

chad
12-06-2012, 01:34 PM
Pork does not "wet age" like beef and definitely should not smell. A week is a bit long to hold pork in the fridge. But, YMMV! I wouldn't take the chance - pork is cheap, ER visits are not!

DownHomeQue
12-06-2012, 01:36 PM
I vote Toss

landarc
12-06-2012, 01:40 PM
Let them sit for an hour out of the cryo, if the smell is still bad, then let them go away.

daninnewjersey
12-06-2012, 01:42 PM
Return them??

WineMaster
12-06-2012, 01:47 PM
If you are gonna toss em give RD a call and see what they can do. Wont be the first time they have gotten the call about smelly pork. It happens

ButchB
12-06-2012, 01:51 PM
I went ahead and tossed them. The entire house smells rancid and my wife walked in and flipped out when she smelled it. It really was pretty bad. Just sucks that that money is down the drain but better safe than sorry.

lola
12-06-2012, 01:53 PM
I had a similar experience with a cryo pack from the local grocery store. Looked great but smelled very strongly. I returned it for exchange no problem. She said they have had quite a few come back all from the same packer, all put up with in two days of each other. May have been a process issue but not noticed until you opened it up. Worth a try on return but certainly would not eat it.

PatAttack
12-06-2012, 01:53 PM
When in doubt, throw it out. I would have taken them back to RD.

ButchB
12-06-2012, 01:58 PM
I'd love to return them but RD is an hour and a half from my house, which makes it suck even more because i lost gas money on top of the price i paid for the butts. I'm sure they would want them returned if they were to issue a credit or refund.

BobM
12-06-2012, 01:59 PM
Toss is a good decision.

aawa
12-06-2012, 02:00 PM
Call RD up and tell them that you bought some butts and when you opened up the vac bags they smelled bad and that you were not comfortable cooking up possibly bad pork. They might do something for you.

Also pork doesn't wet age very well as mentioned above. My rule is if I am not going to use it within 4 days, it goes into the freezer, and I'll thaw it out later if I decide I will use it.

OneHump
12-06-2012, 02:06 PM
Been there and done that: http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98915&highlight=OneHump+butts+smell

The smelly butts that I had turned out to be from a box that had expired 3 months prior. No idea what it was doing at the grocer's cold storage. I'm thinking that, in your case, a week is a bit long for non-frozen butts.

Edit: The linked thread isn't what I was shooting for. I had another thread going with some really smelly butts. Either way, I tossed them.

Cack
12-06-2012, 02:08 PM
It never hurts to give them a call. Even if you had to take a hit. Maybe they go check the rest and throw them out so no one else waste their time and money.

Lake Dogs
12-06-2012, 02:12 PM
I'm glad you threw them out, especially after you described that smell... Yeah, give RD a call. I'm sure they dont want to lose a customer, even one who is that far away...

ButchB
12-06-2012, 02:41 PM
I went on RD website and sent a feedback/comment to them explaining what happened. Within 10 minutes the manager from the Charlotte store calls me and apologizes and says to find him next time I come into the store and he will replace them free of charge. I was like wow I never expected that just wanted to give you a heads up. I wish everywhere had that kind of customer service.

daninnewjersey
12-06-2012, 02:46 PM
I went on RD website and sent a feedback/comment to them explaining what happened. Within 10 minutes the manager from the Charlotte store calls me and apologizes and says to find him next time I come into the store and he will replace them free of charge. I was like wow I never expected that just wanted to give you a heads up. I wish everywhere had that kind of customer service.


THAT is customer service.....

PatAttack
12-06-2012, 02:54 PM
I went on RD website and sent a feedback/comment to them explaining what happened. Within 10 minutes the manager from the Charlotte store calls me and apologizes and says to find him next time I come into the store and he will replace them free of charge. I was like wow I never expected that just wanted to give you a heads up. I wish everywhere had that kind of customer service.

Yahtzee!!

aawa
12-06-2012, 02:57 PM
That is some great costumer service right there! It never hurts to contact stores where you get bad product from. I have found even if it is to just notify them so they can go through their stock and check for any expired product, letting them know always help. But the stores will normally take care of the issue and try to make it right with you.

Johnny_Crunch
12-06-2012, 03:07 PM
Nice service!

flyingbassman5
12-06-2012, 03:23 PM
Same thing happened to me with a pack of spares I bought. Got them from a locally owned grocery store and when I got them home and opened up to rub em down, the rack smelt of rotten eggs. Needless to say, I was weary about cooking em up. I called the store and talked with the head butcher and he had me bring back the rack so he could give it an official inspection. He took one wiff and said, "Nope! Don't eat those!" and handed me 3 fresh cut racks free of charge plus his personal business card. Told me that next time I needed an order of meat, just head to the butcher counter instead of the freezer, show them his card, and they would cut it fresh for me right then and there with an added 10% off!! I've been getting my meat from there ever since, minus the 10% off.

Just goes to show you that with good, friendly, customer service you can keep a customer even after they have a bad experience with a product. For those also in St. Louie who might be curious, the store I'm talking about is a Dierbergh's Market. :grin:

luke duke
12-07-2012, 12:26 PM
I got a rotten pork loin from Sam's once. It looked fine, I stored it properly and the cryovac was still intact. The smell almost knocked me over when I opened it.

Cayman1
12-07-2012, 04:38 PM
Same problem with one of the three packages of spares last weekend. All came from same store, same sell by date, etc., but one stunk terrible. Saved the tag and store refunded price. Not hard to tell if pork is bad. Any funky smell and I don't use it, not worth the risk.

Happy Hapgood
12-07-2012, 05:07 PM
I'm going to be the dummy to ask here but how should pork smell right out of cryovac? Any smell at all? I did a butt afew weeks back and it had a slight odor. After washing I could smell it just a tad. Not an offputting smell or anything like that.

It smoked up well. I tried it out on the wife with no ill effects so I chowed down.

ps: just kidding about the wife part ;D

It did turn out good.

DJnKY
12-07-2012, 07:47 PM
Agree with all the good info you have already received. If it smells bad after a few minutes out of the cryo it's time to throw.
Had some spares in the fridge for 4-5 days, not past date, but they smelled bad! Really was looking forward to the ribs and I had the uds gettin hot, so I ran to kroger to pick up some ribs. Smoked the bad ones on the lower rack while the new ones where on the top rack. My dog ate well for a few days!!!
He seemed to really like Q. Smart dog!

landarc
12-07-2012, 08:13 PM
Toast, often pork that comes out of plastic has a funk to it, it can linger a bit, but, should dissapate after a few to several minutes. I always wash all of the meat I buy, and I now give it a quick scrape as well. If the smell persists after washing and scraping, I return it.

Funtimebbq
12-07-2012, 08:30 PM
At RD, the stores use the Julian Calender for dating their meats. Today is day 342. If you still have the label, you can compare that number with today's and see if the date was past due. Also, those numbers on the packages reflect when the meats get weighed and put on the shelf. The cases still have the kill dates on them. It is possible for the case to sit a while unsold and then the meats put on the shelf with a current date. Going 5 days out from the date on the meat may be risky. I usually buy my butts for competitons from RD on Wednesdays before the comp.

It is great that they took care of you, no questions asked. I have had great experiences at RD.

Benny