My Senses Tell Me

[Food Critic]

This is the fourth time this has happened to me. I live in Lilburn, Ga. I go to Ingles regular supermarket. I buy beef liver labeled "Best Meat In Town". It's smooth, firm, rich color, sweet, delicious and tastes like there's nothing extra added or on it. I buy beef liver at Whole Foods midtown Atlanta. It's grainy textured, pale color, sour tasting, smells like a store, mushy and overly soft. It's labeled Step 4 which means one hundred percent pastured. Why does this happen every time so far? Has Whole Foods no pride? Where is Ingles getting their liver delivered from?

If that's not enough, Ingles liver is $2.00 a pound, and Whole Food liver $4.99 a pound.

[cherimoya_kid]

That's pretty interesting.  I think it might be worth asking the butcher at each place where they get their liver.

[Food Critic]

I think I'm going to ask the meat counter managers of all stores I mention here.  I made a mistake above. I got sour calves livers at the midtown Whole Foods, but that wasn't this time. Several times since I got these nasty beef livers at the Cobb Harry's Whole Foods in Marietta, Ga. I've gotten heavy smelling but decent beef liver at Whole Foods' Briarcliff location.

[CitrusHigh]

I would talk to the 'butchers' anyways. Don't be surprised if they're clueless, but they might know something about the meat. I'd write down your questions before you go in.

Where is the farm this liver comes from?

What inputs do the animals get? Water, grains, grass, minerals, hormones, vitamin injections, etc. They should only be getting air, sun, minerals, water, grass. Anything else is suspicious.

Do they spray their pastures with any chemicals organic or natural?

Are they 100% grass fed? Is it fresh grass or stored forage?

Where and how is the meat processed?

How long from death to shelf? This is important because I've had livers from cows that I know the farmer and the farmer does and excelent job, but the liver has been in the freezer so long, and without proper storage that it was light pink and mealy, even though it probably started out deep dark purple and smoothe, dense.

Don't be afraid to ask them a 100 questions and press them for good, confident answers. Pay attention to their body language and confidence.

I have dealt with so many aloof, ignorant, apathetic, condescending butchers that it's not even funny. But now I have my butchers at the local co-op who know me by name and call me up to let me know the fresh shipment has just come in and if they should reserve it for me, of course I usually buy a whole 15 lb liver, a tongue, heart and kidney all at a go, so they love me cuz they don't have to process anything, just rebag it, retag it an sell it!

everything is always stellar quality and they gave me the name of the farm so I could go visit if I wanted. I contacted the farmer and he's kickass, really doing it right!

[hasseb1]

I have dealt with so many aloof, ignorant, apathetic, condescending butchers that it's not even funny. But now I have my butchers at the local co-op who know me by name and call me up to let me know the fresh shipment has just come in and if they should reserve it for me, of course I usually buy a whole 15 lb liver, a tongue, heart and kidney all at a go, so they love me cuz they don't have to process anything, just rebag it, retag it an sell it!



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[A_Tribe_Called_Paleo]

Level 4 at wholefoods doesn't mean 100% grass fed. Check the labels next time.

[sabertooth]

I worked at a processing plant and butchered animals for wholefoods in Kentucky. I was on the kill floor and witnessed for myself that many of the animals had cyst on their organs, swollen joints, and did not taste very well. It was hit or miss, some animals would come through looking just fine while others had some serious issues.

Something isn't right with a lot of the commercial grass-fed operations in this country. I am not exactly sure what the issue is? Perhaps polluted or sub quality pastures, GMO alfalfa, moldy fescue hay, ect? They also vaccinate with who knows what and worm the animals chemically 60 days before slaughter. There is no one enforcing the kind of standards that many people in the paleo community are calling for.

This is why I advocate buying directly from the farm whenever possible. Go to the farm look and see for yourself where your food comes from, and how the animals are fed and cared for!

[TylerDurden]

Well, I think the reason is that the soil is not being looked after properly, being way overused. CK is absolutely right in stating that remineralisation of the soil  etc. is the way to go.

As for "WholeFoods", my experience of their store in the UK was dismal. Definitely no 100% grassfed beef available at all, some so-called "organic" but grainfed. And even the nonorganic was way too expensive.