What's in my dinner?, Chapter 1

Every day at Butcher Boy we get questioned about natural, hormone free, additives and mad cows. Well, here we are in our first installment of "What's in my Dinner?", a series of no holds barred, nothing but the truth stories about the meat business.

No, I am not here to bash the "other guys" or point blame at anyone for doing what they consider right for THEIR business. I am here to explain the facts and how we strive to be as up front as possible in OUR business on a daily basis.

One of the biggest and most apparent differences between us and most meat shops is that we offer a majority of our goods from the full service meat case. A good majority of the country buys their meats from the store pre-packaged in convenient leak free plastic wrapped foam trays. Doesn't seem all that natural does it?

One trick that some retailers and meat packing houses use to extend the "salable life" of their products is to use Modified Atmosphere Packaging. Basically adding inert gasses to the packaging to reduce the oxygen that bacteria thrive on. Now this doesn't sound so bad right? Well, it is not always bad. For instance, we purchase fresh chicken that comes in bags filled with nitrogen to keep it fresh. Nitrogen is a gas that makes up a majority of the air we breath every day, and is in no way harmful. However, there are some companies that use Carbon Monoxide which as we know is poisonous, even LETHAL in cases! Now here is the catch- there are no regulations in place to make sure that the gasses used are conveyed to the customer, which means that you never really know whats in the package.

There is a NY Times Article that compares steaks from MAP and traditional packaging. It shows that the meat treated with gas stayed bright red, even after being unrefrigerated for two days!! And then the Food & Water Watch site that gives the details on carbon monoxide and its effects.

In traditional Vacuum Packaging or "Cryovac" packaging, most of the oxygen is removed from the packaging without adding anything. The only real downside to this is that it will also force some of the natural juices from the meat. This is a safe and ethical way of preserving foods without adding anything foreign.

A quick browse around the web will uncover many, many stories similar to these but you will be hard pressed to find one from the USDA that answers the question- "Why don't they HAVE to tell me what's in my dinner?"

In our opinion, the answer is simple. When you shop with us, you buy meats straight from a case where everything is cut fresh. And it has to be fresh since we cannot pump carbon monoxide into it to keep it looking good!

Next time we will discuss what exactly "natural" means and how you can be deceived by clever packaging and labeling tricks. In the meantime, stop by and ask us- "What's in my dinner?" And remember we are only a click away at butcherboy.us.