On Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 2:02:36 AM UTC-10, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
> On 10/31/2015 1:24 AM, Mark Thorson wrote:
> > Kalmia wrote:
> >>
> >> Someone claims that the rotiss is cheaper than buying a raw bird and roasting it.
> >
> > Yes, because that's how supermarkets recycle
> > the birds near their expiration date (after
> > a few rounds of repackaging with a new date).
> > They are often flavored to help cover this up.
> > They are generally safe to eat, so if you like
> > them go ahead and buy them.
>
> I've heard that story often, but I doubt it is true. The sheer number
> of rotis birds outnumbers the fresh ones in the meat case. I've watched
> them filling up the machine with Perdu birds of a consistent size.

My guess is that the number of expired birds roasted and sold this way is not a big percentage. OTOH, selling chicken like this gives the store an advantage in that they can quickly rotate their stock and pull the raw birds from the case after a short time. OTOH, my guess is that the big chains already know how much chicken they can expect to sell and their rotisserie birds do not come to them packaged for retail sale raw. Anyway, selling rotisserie birds does give the supermarkets a lot of flexibility on selling chicken. It's a pretty clever idea.