Really tired of Aldi meats going South well ahead of their Sell-By dates!

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I opened a package of Aldi lamb shanks with 2 days left before sell-by and they were rank. I live 3 minutes away from this store so it’s not like they were out of refrigeration very long.

Yes, if I had kept the receipt (but who does), I could return them. But that’s not my deal - it’s that this is a pretty common problem with Aldi meat, whether lamb, pork, beef, or chicken - I’ve had all off them go bad one way or the other prior to their respective sell-by dates.

I think I’m done with Aldi other than dry stuff like the kids’ M-R chocolate bars and my wife’s chia seeds.

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Many of these meat package are often packaged about three weeks before their sell-by date and since refrigeration in supermarkets for meat isn’t often great (open fridges) and they are not stored under nitrogen I wouldn’t but anything which less than 1.5 weeks from that sell-by date

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Thanks for the info. But that doesn’t fix Aldi’s problem of having stuff go bad before their “sell-by” dates. They need to get this fixed. I did a quick google and found a lot of similar complaints (reddit and what not). They’'re going to ruin their rep.

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This isn’t really an Aldi specific problem as this problem happen also at other supermarket chains - and I doubt that they will change anything as no other chain is doing anything

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Maybe so, but I’ve not had this happen at other chains. At Kroger and the other big chains, meats (if packages are not breached) have never been bad prior to sell-by date.

And I live on meat. I buy a lot of it. I do think that this is an Aldi-specific problem.

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I had the problem a few times at Safeway here in the Bay area - and it is one of the reasons why I only buy now meat at WholeFoods or small butcher where it isn’t packaged at all and doesn’t sit around for weeks (it also helps to avoid cafo meat)

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Hi, thanks, I’m in the SE US area, so we have Kroger, Publix etc. [edit - besides also Aldi]

And can you explain what “cafo meat” means?

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The lousy “factory” meat sold in most supermarkets, There is a “famous” beef factory on I-5 when you drive down from San Francisco to LA also known as Cowschwitz

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Many thanks.
Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure those sorts of places are where my meat comes from, excepting those times I decide to afford grass fed etc.

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If I have a problem with meat from somewhere more than once, I don’t buy from there again.

The issue is not the sell-by date, but what happens between when things are loaded and unloaded from trucks and before they make it into the cases — temps are not held.

(I am usually pretty specific about where I buy meat, with an eye on how fast things turn over and on sourcing. Red meat mostly from Whole Foods, and chicken from TJs,. Occasionally lamb from Costco. Not sure what the equivalent options are where you live.)

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Report it to your local DOH (if it’s still functioning - I having checked the news in 15:00). My local supermarket keeps their fridges too warm, so you’re as likely as not to buy spoiled milk, even well before the sell-by date.

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I have had the same experience with supermarket lamb meat. I gave up on it. Not much consolation but I wanted you to know you are not alone.