The only thing we grind, is for our case. The only thing we can LEGALLY GRIND is beef. No grinding chicken, pork, turkey, etc. USDA regulations.
We can grind someone's chuck roast, I guess, but it is a HUGE PAIN. First off, if they buy a 1 pound roast, they MIGHT get .75lbs back, and they ARE paying for the whole pound. Second, if the grinder has already been disassembled and cleaned (which it is supposed to be after grinding the beef for the case), it will have to be reassembled, then grind their meat, then cleaned. About an hour of work, for one customer.
As an unofficial-policy, we typically don't grind meat for anyone.
It has to be beef. And usually, it has to be the beef we cut ourselves; no prepackaged. At our store we do in fact grind someone's chuck roast or whatever if that's what they want. Did this just the other day. Threw in a bit of trim to compensate for the weight lost in the head. We honestly only clean the grinder once a day, so we will grind a request like this so long as it's made before we've cleaned it. If after, then it depends on how much help we have the rest of the day and whether we feel like it. Well, it always depends on whether we feel like it, actually.
The only thing we grind, is for our case. The only thing we can LEGALLY GRIND is beef. No grinding chicken, pork, turkey, etc. USDA regulations.
We can grind someone's chuck roast, I guess, but it is a HUGE PAIN. First off, if they buy a 1 pound roast, they MIGHT get .75lbs back, and they ARE paying for the whole pound. Second, if the grinder has already been disassembled and cleaned (which it is supposed to be after grinding the beef for the case), it will have to be reassembled, then grind their meat, then cleaned. About an hour of work, for one customer.
As an unofficial-policy, we typically don't grind meat for anyone.
You need to re-weigh it after grinding it. Otherwise, you're cheating the customer and you and the store can get in a lot of trouble. If the label says one pound, there had better be a pound in the package.
The only thing we grind, is for our case. The only thing we can LEGALLY GRIND is beef. No grinding chicken, pork, turkey, etc. USDA regulations.
We can grind someone's chuck roast, I guess, but it is a HUGE PAIN. First off, if they buy a 1 pound roast, they MIGHT get .75lbs back, and they ARE paying for the whole pound. Second, if the grinder has already been disassembled and cleaned (which it is supposed to be after grinding the beef for the case), it will have to be reassembled, then grind their meat, then cleaned. About an hour of work, for one customer.
As an unofficial-policy, we typically don't grind meat for anyone.
You need to re-weigh it after grinding it. Otherwise, you're cheating the customer and you and the store can get in a lot of trouble. If the label says one pound, there had better be a pound in the package.
I don't know who told you that.
At both the Kroger stores I have worked at, both the managers and all the other meat employees have told me that. Infact, we were told the OPPOSITE of what you said: If we put trimmings in to make up for the lost weight, we can get in trouble, as that is essentially stealing from them.
Think of it like this: If a customer wants the skin cut off a piece of salmon, we weigh the salmon WITH the skin, then cut it off and throw the skin out. Same with packages of chicken, if they want the skin taken off, they pay for the whole package. Even if they lose half a pound in skin, and juices that fall out, they pay for the whole thing. It doesn't get reweighed.
Another problem with grinding a chuck roast for someone:
If the grinder HASN'T been cleaned, the customer will be getting a bunch of beef that isn't theirs. Chuck roast might be 80/20, but the grinder will have a bunch of left-over 73/27 inside it, that gets pushed out by the new meat.
The only way to get it all out would be to take apart and clean the grinder, let it dry (for sanitary reasons, you don't want a bunch of chemicals in their meat), then reassemble it. That might be....2 hours to fully dry? Unreasonable, for the customer and the employee, especially because the employee will then have to break it down and clean it AGAIN.
OP: Don't tell the meat department what to do. We know what we are doing, and we know what can and can't be feasibly done.
OK thanks ! I understand much better now. I personally was told about not getting all of your meat back after it was ground up and I didn't care because at the time (I was a customer then) the price difference was so great that it more than made up for any loss. This became a big issue when the pink slime was in the media and the only way to be sure you weren't getting any was to ask to have a roast ground up. Since then I've found out you can grind it yourself at home in a food processor, but its really not as good.
I don't think anyone knows its that much work !
OK thanks ! I understand much better now. I personally was told about not getting all of your meat back after it was ground up and I didn't care because at the time (I was a customer then) the price difference was so great that it more than made up for any loss. This became a big issue when the pink slime was in the media and the only way to be sure you weren't getting any was to ask to have a roast ground up. Since then I've found out you can grind it yourself at home in a food processor, but its really not as good. I don't think anyone knows its that much work !
Buy a meat grinder. A food processor just chops it up.
