Having worked for Walmart in the past, I’m familiar with some of their unsavory practices such as advertising items for vastly reduced prices compared to their competitors but not revealing that the merchandise is inferior in quality or accessories.
While these practices were distasteful, I didn’t feel too badly because I usually avoided these pitfalls by inspecting the merchandise and reading/comparing the fine print. Careful observation would usually skirt purchasing disasters, and in my mind it was still a good trade-off for the convenience and prices reflected in other areas of the SuperWalmart.
Now I’m not so sure that the consumer is coming away with a bargain after all.
One of my biggest complains is with the Wal-Mart meat department. It’s one thing to slash prices and reduce quality on a vacuum cleaner, but another to take extreme shortcuts when it comes to food. A vacuum cleaner breaking before its time or lacking an additional upholstery nozzle won’t send me to the emergency room.
I think the first time I noticed a difference was with the chicken. Drumsticks no longer shredded but came apart in huge rubbery chunks that were smooth around the edges, almost as if they were cookie cutouts.
Next I noticed that the roasts I would slow cook tasted just awful. What was supposed to be a pot roast ended up tasting like corned beef.
I would cut into steaks only to find that while the exterior was a bright red hue, the interior was a dull brown. Not the purple of cold beef…brown…like dirt, and my package of pork chops had the exact taste and feel of cured ham.
My only conclusion is that the huge amounts of saline solution they use must be “pickling” these items while the unnatural coloring is caused by the so-called “freshness” preserving gases in the packaging, which really just deceive the consumer and conceal the poor quality.
For a long time, I was scared that all meat would taste like this due to factory processing and even flirted with the idea of vegetarianism, but I’m not very happy after going to my local butcher shop and realizing that Wal-Mart’s unsavory tactics aren’t universal.
Sandy P.
Wal-mart is expanding their store in Sonora, to create another SuperWalmart. My biggest fear is that we recently lost our Albertson’s grocery store. How long will it be before we lose our two remaining grocery stores.
You’ve just provided me with one more reason to avoid the temptation to shop at Wal-mart. We have been trying to buy more organic meats, eggs and vegtables. I know it’s healthier for my family — even though the FDA doesn’t want us to know that.
It’s just so expensive. The cost of organic food is coming down but it takes a real committment to pay those prices. I was so excited to see the price of organic butter was half what I had been paying.
That’s huge because using organic butter is one of the most important health decisions I’ve made. Only recently I learned from Dr. Mercola that contaminants tend to concentrate in foods like butter and those high in fat content.
I won’t be shopping at the SuperWalmart after reading your account.
Thanks for sharing! You’ve made a difference.
Iv’e also noticed Walmarts meat to be unfit for human consumtion.My friend once tried to purchase a pork loin roast from there and when he got to the check out he noticed an awful spoiled meat stench from the package and realized the meat was beyond spoiled,and the expiration date over three weeks away.I tell all my friends not to buy meat from Walmart.I was looking at their ground beef one day and noticed a greenish color to the meat’ nasty.They got rid of all their butchers about ten years ago and now all the meat is shipped in already packaged and has been sitting around for who knows how long. All the workers do is label it and put it on the shelf My advice go to your local butcer shop.