Buyer Beware?

[Gonna Smoke]

Let me start off by saying that I was real hesitant to post this, but after thinking about it for a couple of days, it really aggravated me and thought others should know, especially with the price of beef so high.

This past Monday, the zoo wanted smash burgers so I said no problem. Took some burger out of the freezer Sunday and realized I didn't have enough of my home ground burger and no time to grind any, so I asked Sheila to grab a couple of pounds of ground chuck to supplement what I had. Monday, she went to Walmart to grab that and the other things we needed.

Maybe I'm a little OCD, but I always weigh out my burger and press into patties. The store bought would be 4 oz. burgers. Weighed out the first pack and the last burger wasn't 4 oz. Reweighed the other burgers and they were all exactly 4 oz. I set them all on my scale and...

So I weighed the second tube unopened...

And this includes the wrapper which in my state is not allowed.

I thawed out a brisket and a chuck roast I had in the freezer and today I resupplied my stockpile. I got to thinking about my scale's accuracy so to sorta verify their accuracy, I weighed a portion of my home ground burger on 2 different scales I have. Accurate or not, pretty consistent...

Ok I get it, it's only .2 of an ounce and maybe that's within their tolerances, but let the buying public know that. It is not written on the label anywhere and just think about the thousands and thousands of pounds of burger they sell and how much money they would make. By the way, this burger is a Cargill product.

When I worked in the meat department at Winn Dixie way back in the day, we could only charge for what was in the package and not the packaging. Our Department of Agriculture checked us often to verify the accuracy of our scales and the weight of what we were selling.

As a side note, I vacuum seal my burger in 18 oz. packs as well as 16 oz. packs. Works good for 6 oz. or 4 oz. burgers...

 

[normanaj]

Weigh a burger from chain restaurant that advertise 1/2lb (8oz) burgers. You'll find they're always just a little shy.

 

[zwiller]

I work with the County Auditor who here in Ohio is the governing entity for this. I actually had a friend who did the inspections. So I know enough and decided to look it up. Code states 3% accuracy for retail scale. 16*.03=.48 so 15.52oz is lowest allowable so no violation. Honestly, surprised it's 3% and thought it would be like 10%.

 

[Parshooter]

Weigh a burger from chain restaurant that advertise 1/2lb (8oz) burgers. You'll find they're always just a little shy.

Those are always (?) pre-cooked weight.

 

[chopsaw]

Maybe I'm a little OCD, but I always weigh out my burger and press into patties.

I do the same for smash burgers , but I weigh the bulk to see how many I'll get at 4 oz . , then go from there .

Your difference in weight vs weight advertised could be moisture loss somewhere along the operation .

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Your difference in weight vs weight advertised could be moisture loss somewhere along the operation .

Maybe so, but not sure how moisture would escape a sealed plastic tube even though the ends are sealed with hog rings...

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Your difference in weight vs weight advertised could be moisture loss somewhere along the operation .

I have an idea, though. I've got a friend who works in the meat dept. for Food Lion, a regional grocery store chain. They sell hamburger in the same chub pack. I'll get him to weigh a few to compare weight...

 

[SmokinEdge]

My experience is that any time there is a “margin” a lot of businesses will take it right to that margin, at the end of the year it adds up to real money, especially in a volume business.

EDIT:
To add that when I have a beef or pork processed at my local locker (who charges processing by the pound) we have ground meat done in 1 pound tubes. You take those out of the plastic tube and weigh them and they are spot on 16oz. But better yet they are all within in about 10g or less, so it can be done.

 

[voyager 663rd]

Weigh a burger from chain restaurant that advertise 1/2lb (8oz) burgers. You'll find they're always just a little shy

pre-cooked weight

 

[Hijack73]

Food Lion is bad about that too. I've passed over a lot of bellies that had ~5lbs on the sticker that were easily smaller than the ~4lb ones in the same case.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

EDIT:
To add that when I have a beef or pork processed at my local locker (who charges processing by the pound) we have ground meat done in 1 pound tubes. You take those out of the plastic tube and weigh them and they are spot on 16oz. But better yet they are all within in about 10g or less, so it can be done.

Exactly my point...

 

[texomakid]

I worked in my ex-inlaws meat processing business back in the early 80's and they had a machine that we used to pack these 2# chubs with ground meat. It's not an exact science but when we would spot weight them there was a tolerance that they had to meet. We probably checked a couple of chubs out of every batch and a batch was probably 100 lbs.

The wildest part was being the new guy and put on the chub machine. Man, ground beef was flying everywhere. I got reassigned to another task

 

[normanaj]

Those are always (?) pre-cooked weight.

Yes. A friend worked for the company which owns pretty every Burger King in New England and patties were always slightly under weight,over the course of year that's thousands of pounds of ground beef.

 

[chopsaw]

not sure how moisture would escape a sealed plastic tube

Probably doesn't after it's in the tube . I'm not against your comments , I completely respect you . I was just joining in because I enjoy your threads .
Sam makes the valid point that there has to be a margin for error , and they almost have to weigh on the low side , because they deal with the mass volume . Consumer buys a pound or two at a time . That being said , I've checked things in the past , and they are always spot on . I think one time I had a short weight . I never buy those chubs like you have , because to me they look small .
I mixed up a couple chubs of Ginger salami this morning , so I had to see it .



If your buddy weighs the chubs I'd be interested in the report .

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I'm not against your comments , I completely respect you .

I never, ever thought anything else Rich. I always appreciate your comments and completely respect you, as well...

 

[1MoreFord]

G S, you're a braver soul than I am. I don't buy ground meat from any retail stores hidden inside opaque packaging.

 

[uncle eddie]

Seriously - being within 1% of true/accurate is not that hard to meet and maintain...I am surprised Code allows 3%.

For my day job, among other things we do, we run a certified testing lab for concrete, soil, aggregate...basically all kinds of building material. To meet AASHTO certification standards we go through regular calibrations/inspections and maintain detailed records. All scales, thermometers, load cells, etc. must be within 1% of true/actual to be certified. (This is how I know my home meat thermometers are spot on accurate...or not)

Precision electronic scales used to be CRAZY EXPENSIVE...but not anymore. Annual inspections are not cheap but we just factor them in as a cost of doing business.