Say, would you like to come over for some Carbon Monoxide Burgers?

By

Jim Baugh

Well, this is a disturbing post I know however a lot of you people reading this have already had one, or may soon. Here is what happened at our family dining room table.

I had moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia and found that in our general area, there really was only one major grocery store. I will not mention names because this store is of only one of many chains that adhere to this way of packaging meat.

What I found was that for some reason when I bought this brightly colored red steak, I had must have done something wrong because the meat turned out awful. The steak was tough, and has a weird consistency and taste to it. My wife and I could not even finish the steak, it was that bad.

A couple of months pass and I try another fine looking steak and cook it up. I ran into the same problem. Worst steak ever and it still had this weird consistency, almost like it was pressed steak or something manufactured.

I gave up on steak for a while until I came across a local butcher. This nice fellow gave me an ear and I ask him about the steak experience I had and if he could help me to determine why I kept getting these HORRIBLE steaks that look good at the store.

The butcher proceeded to tell me something that I was TOTALLY unaware of. The store packages the steak with carbon monoxide creating a long shelf life of “Red” looking meat. Even if the steak is old and rancid it still will contain this bright red color. The stores do this in order to extend the shelf life of the product.

CRAP!!! Who in the hell do we report this too!! It must be illegal? Not at all, all fine with the FDA, no one seems to care except the poor person who buys the meat. Not just steak, but hamburger, some fish, etc.

The big problem I have is that it RUINS the consistency of the meat as well as the taste. It is just gross!

When the butcher was explaining this to me it dawned on my brain that I had just been to a “Superstore” one of the largest chains in the world and I remembered that all the meat had this exact bright red color to it. Guess what, they are also using carbon monoxide to package their meat!

From now on, I only buy fresh butchered organic meat unless I have checked out the store online to see how they package their products. NOT ALL STORES USE CARBON MONOXIDE! You can google and find the ones that don’t. At this time, Kroger and Publix do NOT use this method of package meat products with carbon monoxide.

Passing on this information because it is just not widely known and I think the entire process should be banned.

How can you tell if your local store is package with carbon monoxide?? Here is what I have found.

A} If the meat is a super bright red, almost unnatural looking, that is your first clue.

B} If the store is a discount or budget store advertising low cost and super savings on their products. I can think of two major national stores right here on the Shore, and yes the both use carbon monoxide. I don’t shop there anymore for meat, only staple items and I look at those carefully.

If you have a local butcher shop, try to support them if you can. You will eat healthier and the chances are way less of putting harmful chemicals into your body.

Recently I was in Florida and found a Publix, bought a steak and it was great. They do NOT use carbon monoxide packaging.

Do yourself a favor, BOYCOTT stores that use this insane way of packaging meats. It ruins the product, and it cant be good for us.

Jim Baugh
JBO TV