Originally posted on 03/01/2013:

It is sickening though what greed will do to mankind.

When I was around 16 I was hired on to a meat department in a big chain grocery store. My boss the manager to keep profit margins up had quite a few tricks up his sleeve. When 5lb (chubs) of prepackaged ground beef would go past the expiration date. He would make us cut them open and mix it with fresh ground beef and wrap them up and sell them as the daily fresh grind. Same with pork just go grab the stuff that started to turn and grind it up with some newer stuff. The worst though was steaks and beef cuts that were turning so bad we had to hide the discoloration by making them a peppered steak or some type of seasoning encrusted on the surface. I learned a lot of what I to avoid when I go into a supermarket. Any chicken, pork, beef, that is already pre-seasoned I avoid.

I am sure anyone who has worked in any food industry has similar experiences. When I was 14 I was hired at a local family 24 hour diner to was dishes on the graveyard shift. One day the hot water boiler busted and the boss for 3 days (because he was so cheap) had me run through all the dishes with regular cold water. If you know those industry washers it is the high temperature of the water that sanitizes the dishes.