Dee.Dee wrote:
> "Dave Bugg" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Dee.Dee wrote:
>>
>>> Do you mean that most of the meat that is sold at WF (I realize that
>>> you don't KNOW that) has been cryovac'd? I'm trying to figure out
>>> why you say that.
>>
>> Unless they take delivery of fresh whole hogs and have their own
>> in-house butcher shop within the meat department, then I would
>> expect that is the case. Cryovac is the standard method of packaging
>> from the packing houses to the distributors to the retailers.
>> --
>> Dave
>> www.davebbq.com
>
> Let me see if I am getting this. (Niman Ranch in this case) A large
> animal raising farm

Basically they have the same type of ranching operation as a lot of growers.

> would probably send their animals off site to be
> butchered.

That is likely.

> This site would probably butcher it and pack it in
> cryovac

Yes. For restaurants, their are other means of delivery.

> and then distribute it.

Actually the meat processor sells the product to a distributor. Now to
further confuse the issue, there are national distributors, regional
distributors, and interstate distributors. McDonalds and Costco are examples
of two companies that have the purchasing power to buy from the packing
houses directly and act as their own national distributor.

> Cryovac packages are those packages of meat (weighing 20# or so) that
> I see in Costco -- a vacuumed-type package?

Yes, that's the type of package. But cryovac is also used on smaller
packages as well. The meat you see displayed in the meat counter, or on foam
trays in the meat cooler, are pulled out of cryovac packages and repackaged
by the store.

Now, I don't know WF. I don't know if they can bring in carcasses and
butcher them up for packaging or not. But what I described is how Costco,
Albertsons, Fred Myers, Top Foods, etc do theirs.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com