Meat quality decline?

It is not just the quality of the meat itself, but I have found the cutting has gotten much worse as well. I see things packaged as steaks that I would not cut up for stew meat.

I have a good friend who works for JBS (worlds largest meat processor). Grading is still the same but the best cuts go to high end customers. He too felt that what grades as prime now is hit or miss. We raise purebred black angus and feed them high quality finish rations. I was told most of it goes overseas.

Meat

Hi All the good beef is going for Trumps burgers.:-D
DanB

Here's a good related article on grading and selection. https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/05/beef-shopping-prime-high-choice-steak.html

noles2g said:

The prime cuts of steak at my Costco look like the choice at best
from my local The Fresh Market.
At least here in FL..the Prime at my fresh market is well marbled and very good typically (its similar to a Whole Foods type store) and the choice beef at my Publix has steadily gotten worse over the last 5years IMO. If I can even remotely help it I won’t buy beef there which is sad because I love publix for everything else the service the ribs, butts etc. I have an Earth Fare local as well and I can’t even eat there grass fed but the grain choice steaks are usually a notch above super market quality. I know publix sources most of there beef locally so I’m not sure what happened to the quality of beef in central Florida as it used to be good..

Click to expand...

I have noticed the same thing with Publix quality in their meats over the past 5-6 years, so I quit buying their meats; equally with Sams as well. Sams BB ribs are still good but still get the occasional "shiners" and butts are not too bad, but the beef is terrible.
I found a local butcher (Supreme meats in Stuart Fl) that has a truer grade of prime, and yes the price is a little more but the quality makes up for it. Their briskets are excellent and the steaks are dry aged.
There are a couple of independent producers in the okeechobee area I want to try especially for 24hr / fresh chicken and more fresh game.

Football's coming!
The U

A couple of weeks ago, I had my first ever pork butt that turned out dry and flavorless. This after more than 20 years of making fantastic NC style BBQ from pork butts. I mean, come on, it's a pork butt - you just walk up to the meat case and grab one, because all of them are rich, fatty goodness, right? Not any more, apparently. What is the world coming to?

As for beef, my wife and I have just about given up on typical grilling steaks. I haven't had a decent ribeye, strip, or t-bone from a supermarket in years. The price is out of sight, and they are all tough and flavorless. When we want red meat now, we usually go for a London broil (cut from the top round). When marinated, grilled to medium rare, and sliced thinly against the grain, it has pretty good flavor, is no tougher than the so-called "grilling steaks," and we can usually pick it up on sale for under $3/pound.

ronbrad62 said:

My thoughts on that, there is such a huge demand for these commodities and the farmers are in such a rush to get the animals to market that the animals don't have time to mature and develop to a top quality grade of meat, so we end up with a product that was rushed (perhaps some by hormones) to maturity in order to fill consumer demand. It makes me want to try organically raised animals to see if there is a difference.

Click to expand...

I grew up on beef with artificial growth hormones. It does not materially affect beef flavor or texture. My personal steers had artificial growth hormones too. If you are a prepubescent Cuban girl, you should avoid beef like this though as those hormones can bring on early puberty.

dadsr4 said:

There is also a lot of pressure for leaner beef. To many, marbling just looks "fatty". If it doesn't sell well, stores don't stock it.

Click to expand...

Exactly. My mother prides herself on buying the "prettiest" least marbled shoe leather masquerading as a steak in the meat case. Marbling to her is bad ... :wacko:

SMOKE FREAK said:

It's the feed that they finish the cattle on that determines the quality of the finished product...
I've worked for 37 years in the animal nutrition industry...Mostly in the production end...I can tell you that many (not all) feedyards are finishing beef cattle on garbage that cattle were never meant to eat...This guarantees a predictable rate of gain per dollar that beef producers need. It's all about the money...And as long as we keep buying the crap, they will keep putting it out...

Click to expand...

Exactly. The consumer decides what is in the mass market production pipeline. I won't raise a steer to those standards for my own personal consumption and can live with the longer time to butcher and higher overall feed costs (feeding more than just fresh pasture/grass). I do not like feedlot beef on my plate.

Today's mass market consumer only cares about "lean" (i.e. no marbling = no flavor) beef at the lowest price possible.

Tatanka said:

...

Like SmokeFreak, I spent many years in agribusiness and still watch commodity prices on the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The weird thing is that Live Cattle futures in nearby months have tanked for some time now. I've been expecting $2.00-$4.00/lb. drop in boneless ribeyes, for example, for over 4 months. Hasn't happened yet. I thought maybe restaurant demand is so great that it's supporting high beef prices; could be.

But if we believe, as experienced meat people, that the quality of beef we can get hold of has declined while prices haven't, I can only believe that a good bit of milk cow beef has entered the market, parading itself as steer beef. That's my read and I'm sticking to it. The clue? What I've noticed is thicker muscle sheathing, which indicates an older bovine. Shifty farkers!

Click to expand...

The better grades of beef are going overseas where there is demand for it and the ability to pay for it. Dairy cattle (i.e. shoe leather) is a fact in most bargain beef.

Norm said:

I have a good friend who works for JBS (worlds largest meat processor). Grading is still the same but the best cuts go to high end customers. He too felt that what grades as prime now is hit or miss. We raise purebred black angus and feed them high quality finish rations. I was told most of it goes overseas.

Click to expand...

Personally, I like a Hereford/Angus cross on my plate but, a Hereford Simmental ain't a bad choice either. A 'classic British' breed will make an excellent piece of meat on your plate but, they won't do it as fast or cheaply as the 'exotics/imports/...'. The exotics will get to market weight faster on less feed (lbs of meat vs. pounds of feed/$) but, most experienced ranchers and butchers can spot the difference at the slaughterhouse, just like the dairy cattle.

Sid Post said:

The better grades of beef are going overseas where there is demand for it and the ability to pay for it.

Click to expand...

I was told something similar in Gulf shrimp: it’s pretty tough to get the biggest shrimp if you’re inside a hundred miles from the coast, unless you’ve got a personal friend on the boat. The bigger ones are the only ones that bring enough a pound to justify the shipping cost, thus the farther you go from the coast, the better shrimp you can get..

Have not read the whole thread and typing on a square phone at the moment but my guess is you have matured and know what a good chunk of beef critter should taste like. That and prices up.

I’ve not necessarily noticed. This site has made me a much better selector of meat. I’m also much more comfortable walking away when I don’t see what I want.

Brisket (regardless of grade) thick even flat, nice round point, white fat and kind of floppy.
Pork- good pork color- white fat- smaller cuts, no two packs. I’ve had really good luck lately with smaller picnics, Boston butts, hams etc. I pay a tad more for the smaller single packs, but Imbgood with that. Ribs- back and spares I buy the smallest I can find in the bin. If all are big thick/I pass

Chicken- no purple or gray green blue. Needs to be somewhat white fat with a faint yellow tint and fresh looking meat. I’m not opposed to a fat yellow hen, but it’s probably going to end up soup or dumplings. Needs a good complexion??? No feathers hanging. Again I find the smaller birds taste better.

Steaks: guess I’ve been fortunate. Porterhouse and Ribeyes are mainly what I purchase. I’ll buy Tbone if they look like porterhouse.

I don’t buy big batches of meat anymore. I’m pretty flexible so if one meat doesn’t look to my liking Ill move along until something looks great.

Probably why I don’t notice it.

16Adams said:

I’ve not necessarily noticed. This site has made me a much better selector of meat. I’m also much more comfortable walking away when I don’t see what I want.

Brisket (regardless of grade) thick even flat, nice round point, white fat and kind of floppy.
Pork- good pork color- white fat- smaller cuts, no two packs. I’ve had really good luck lately with smaller picnics, Boston butts, hams etc. I pay a tad more for the smaller single packs, but Imbgood with that. Ribs- back and spares I buy the smallest I can find in the bin. If all are big thick/I pass

Chicken- no purple or gray green blue. Needs to be somewhat white fat with a faint yellow tint and fresh looking meat. I’m not opposed to a fat yellow hen, but it’s probably going to end up soup or dumplings. Needs a good complexion??? No feathers hanging. Again I find the smaller birds taste better.

Steaks: guess I’ve been fortunate. Porterhouse and Ribeyes are mainly what I purchase. I’ll buy Tbone if they look like porterhouse.

I don’t buy big batches of meat anymore. I’m pretty flexible so if one meat doesn’t look to my liking Ill move along until something looks great.

Probably why I don’t notice it.

Click to expand...

I do think there is less quality meats on the market, but just like you , I've become very selective. I have plenty of freezer space, if I run across a good brisket, package of steaks, prime rib, etc. I'm not afraid of having extra, rather have too much quality meat as oppose to too little. A vacuum sealer has been my best purchase, steaks last a long time sealed in cryovac/bags.

I have noticed the decline in quality of brisket. Thin flats at walmart. Just ugly. I could make a select work before but its over priced and just garbage. I will pass. I might order online soon to get better quality.

16Adams said:

Pork- good pork color- white fat- smaller cuts, no two packs. I’ve had really good luck lately with smaller picnics, Boston butts, hams etc.

Click to expand...

The lousy pork butt I did recently was the smallest one I've had in a while (7 lbs.). I had a 10-pounder that I bought at the same time that turned out great. While I concede that this is a very limited sample, my experience has been the opposite of yours: bigger = more fat = better flavor and moisture.