Nick didn’t notice the label on this package of ground beef until after he brought it home. Seeing how he bought it on November 20, 2009, and the label claims that it was packaged on August 8, 2004, he’s a little confused.
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Also note: Product of: Canada, Mexico, United States.
Ground beef should not require the concerted effort of 3 separate nations to prepare.
@ludwigk: [www.imdb.com]
@ludwigk:
I loved this comment.
@ludwigk: It’s probably just a way to short circuit the whole labeling thing. Is anyone really going to complain if their ground beef from Canada, Mexico, and the US is only from Canada? or only from the US? or even only from Mexico? If you’re ok with all three then you’re probably okay with some combination of the three, and they don’t have to put any effort into actual labeling.
@crazydavythe1st: No, the meat is probably actually sourced from all over the world. The NY TImes included a good overview of how meat is processed in an good article about a woman who got E. coli from ground beef.
@crazydavythe1st: Actually there is probably beef from all three nations in the package. A pound of ground beef isn’t just from one cow, it’s from hundreds or thousands all mixed together.
@ludwigk: I noticed that right off too. Sheesh. That’s one of the reasons I just placed an order of grass fed ground beef from a local farmer. It’s ground at a small local processor. Cheaper per pound than the international stuff from ’04, too.
@ludwigk: Some chop meat sold in grocery stores is actually ground in store, and is “cut” with trimmings and scraps from other meat to get the desired fat content. So you may be getting a piece of filet mingon in there that the butcher miscut/wasn’t presentable. Since you are combining meat, in order to meat(pun intended) the labeling guidelines, you must list the source of all the meat you are putting in there. Put all the names of the countries your store gets beef from, and problem solved. I used to work in a grocery store, and while never actually working in the butcher dept., I talked to a lot of the butchers, and saw how some stuff was made.
@GitEmSteveDave_HazEnvy: Boyfriend is a butcher, and you’re spot on.
Catch the ground at around 8-9 am, it’s the best (if they actually put it out) since they cut in the morning and a lot of higher quality, mis-cut stuff works it’s way in.
Also, even when ground comes in pre-ground, the plant may source from many companies and therefore many countries. Just put all of them on there, instead of tracking each individual shipment and printing labels for each.
Same with pretty much anything… look at your juice, for example. Usually says Product of the USA and Mexico, or even more countries.
@ludwigk: YES. You are so correct.
@ludwigk: That’s NAFTA for you.
@ludwigk:
Given it’s collaborative nature and time-travel properties, I can only surmise that this is the Large Hadron Collider of beef products.
Bought at Wal-Mart? I don’t see the problem here.
If it comes from the US, Awesome! If it comes from Canada, even better, if it comes from Mexico, send that shit back! I won’t buy anything from that country, not even the imported escorts I keep stiffing out of money
It’s probably just an error. I’ve bought lunch meat several times lately that was dated incorrectly. I know I bought it on X date, but the package was dated the wrong month or day.
@chatterboxwriting: Could be an innocent mix-up and the label should have read Aug 04, 08.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say the computer was reset somehow and reverted back to it’s original date. Chances are the labeling machine is about 5 years old.
I love how everyone just assumes the ’04′ means 2004 and not 1904 or 3004.
I used to work at a Stop & Shop in the Meat Dept & we would change the year in the afternoon so we knew if it was packaged in PM of that day. I would use 22/33 for am/pm as the year. I am sure this is the same case here, except it should have been changed to something else, basically something that would not be confused as the year.
@SatisfriedCrustomer: If it’s 1904, that probably means it’s organic!
I’ve seen ground meat that looked fresher then that…
I’ll blame Magical Trevor and a wayward spell.
(yeah, it’s a bit of an obscure reference)
@Snaptastic:
[www.weebls-stuff.com]
I’m with the machine reset option. August instead of November and ’04 instead of ’09? Considering the lifetime and update in technology and government required changes, I can believe the machine has that (near similar) info for it’s start date. Although, if it reset on August 01, 2004 and nobody has noticed this for SEVEN days….
As for the typeface, I hate it. I know it’s “required” info they print, but people with eye problems have trouble reading it (aka ME). If they use it for an ingredients label, heaven help the weak eyed.
This is one of those things that makes me think its a slow news day here on Consumerist. I mean, really? This deserves a headline?
Its obvious that its an error on the tag, sometimes those type of things happen. Being human will do that to you. Any person can see that the meat isnt 5 years old. I dont know whats worse, the fact that someone took the time and effort to send this in, or that this site actually put it up.
@SlappyWhite: I know “slow news day” comments are generally frowned upon, the whole “if you don’t like it why did you comment” stuff comes into play, and I so rarely criticize Consumerist, but, I kinda have to agree with this one – it’s a simple label error. It didn’t hurt anyone. It involved no email or letters to CEOs. I would put this about one notch above somebody finding a box of tissues in the cereal isle at the grocery store.
DON’T EAT IT – As we learned from Back to the Future, if this beef is really from the past, any interaction with modern day humans could rip the time space continuium and move us to an alternate reality.
@Rachacha: But paradox is delicious.
Side effects of paradox include nausea, bloating, head aches, disappearing from existence, becoming your own grand pa and possible sexual side effects. Do not conduct paradoxes if you are pregnant or might become pregnant.
No wonder there have been so many E. coli recalls for hamburger.
If memory serves, when an old Mac lost its clock battery or the PRAM was reset, the date would revert to August 1904. Mayhaps their labeling is done on a way old Mac? It would explain the use of Chicago typeface too.
@Crim Law Geek: iMeat
OK, hear me out for a second. If someone did invent time travel (no, no, I’m not crazy), a package of ground beef would be a perfect first step for testing. I mean, you’d want to know whether something would age while traveling through time (otherwise it’s just stasis), but you might not want to risk the life and health of some poor, innocent animal. The fact that this packet of ground beef arrived in what appears to be an edible state is a good sign! Really, this is a brilliant first step! Now, the only question is: Is this from 2004, 3004, or some other ’04?
Yes, I do have some work-work to do today. Why, yes, I do have a habit of finding any excuse to procrastinate. What does that have to do with anything?
Grocery freeze ray? It looks rather fresh.
sheesh… 3.89 a pound? and he bought it a few days ago (November of this year)… it shouldn’t be august anything.
I believe Canadian meat must be just that…Canadian, or not at all. They dont import meat. So I been told. Which also explains why their meat is bland and has no taste to it (less cover and spices to flavor ill meat from nations the world over, like we do in the USA)…
But its good after the first week of eating it.
What is wrong with some well traveled five year old ground meat?
Mystery Meat — not just for school cafeterias anymore.
Haha, this is from a grocery store in northern lower Michigan (Kalkaska, MI) There is another in Kingsley, MI. I used to work for the Kingsley store, mistakes like this are common, like moldy product on the shelves, expired food in the gas station, and we used to flip over cracked eggs, so that at first glance it looked like none of them were broken. I regret it now, but it was my first job, and just did what they told me.
@techman01: I think they put some gas in with red meat to make it stay red?
@H3ion: For some reason, this comment reminded me of the song “Papa was a Rolling Stone”
@jparadise: Carbon Dioxide, I believe.
@JulesNoctambule:
Somehow I think the approximately 20 seconds it took me to write that comment is far less than what it took the OP to take the picture, submit it to the site, Consumerist to decide that it was worthy, and then to post it.