Costco Meat Question

Carolina Q

I am considering a Costco membership. One of the reasons is their meat selection and pricing. However, it is my understanding that they "blade tenderize" their beef, maybe other meat too. Or used to anyway. Do they still do this? Is it with all cuts from all animals or just certain ones? If not all, which ones do they tenderize? Since earlier this year, the USDA has required that meat labels clearly indicate such tenderization. Though apparently, Costco has voluntarily done so for some time.



I assume most people do not cook meat to the "safe" temps required for potentially contaminated meat. 160° rib eye, YUM!! I have heard of no widespread panic regarding foodborne illnesses resulting from eating Costco meat. But still...

Your thoughts? Thanks.

GrateEggspectations

My experience (in Canada) has been that pre-portioned cuts are mechanically tenderized whereas whole pieces are not. If it's a concern, go whole and pre-portion yourself. Not as tender this way, but still great. For the record, I've cooked their mechanically tenderized steaks medium rare (and sometimes rare) for years without issue. Not saying it's safe - just that it hasn't presented problems in my experience to date.

I am a big fan of Costco's meats and am usually disappointed when I shop elsewhere. If only I was in the U.S., where the meat selection is both so much better and also less expensive!

JustineCaseyFeldown

There a grade on that?

i personalky have no desire to buy my meat prechewed, which is essentially what that is. 

I ran the 'blade tenderizer' as a kid working in the meat department. If you own a jaccard (multiple sp?), you know that cleaning is not easy. Now imagine one the size of a commercial dishwasher. 

Never cleaned it or saw it cleaned

If the meat doesn't have a USDA grade, it's probably no better than select. 

But isn't much of their stuff Prime ?  If so, why blade tenderize that?

seems odd. Not for me

i eat hamburgers with rare centers. But if yiu are afraid of that, this is basically the same thing. Allows bacteria in the interior 

HeavyG

It's not something I worry about. Statistically, one is far more likely to be killed driving to Costco than eating a "bad" steak from them.

If that is a concern this is where sous vide is your friend. Cooked long enough the meat will be pasteurized and you can then sear it on your grill.

Here's a table that gives info for time/temp/thickness.

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_5.1

Or...you could just buy one of their whole prime ribs (which are not blade tenderized) and cut your own steaks to your preferred thickness.

HeavyG

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

...

But isn't much of their stuff Prime ?  If so, why blade tenderize that?

seems odd...

It does seem odd. I would love to hear an explanation from Costco why they continue to do that.

Legume

At the Costco near me you can see them running large cuts through the tenderizer before they break them down and portion them.  The stuff in cryo has not been blade tenderized.  Choice and prime there.  It's all done in sight of the customer, not sure why they do it, but that room is visually very clean, no meat sitting around or scraps or anything.

As for safety, if it caused even a couple of problems, you know it would get publicity and Costco would stop.  Someone would sue the deep pockets.

Carolina Q

Yeah, seems like LOTS of folks buy Costco meat, my brother included, and I've yet to have anything less than outstanding meat at his house. Apparently Costco meat has been pre-masticated for years, Prime too (no idea why they would do THAT). And yet, they haven't become the Blue Bell of the meat world. 

And as said, sous vide is always an option. Though a time consuming one.

I wonder how many regular grocery stores do this. Maybe I've been eating pre-chewed food for years.

Eggcelsior

Costco runs soap and sanitizer over every bit of equipment each night. The blades come out of the machine and are washed, rinsed, and sanitized. Every surface is sprayed from the top of the windows in the meat department down.

(I worked at Costco during nursing school and helped out/witnessed it)

Gravytrain84

Can someone explain to me what the hell blade tenderized means

caliking

Someone recently posted a comment about which cuts at Costco were blade tenderized and which were not. Can't remember who it was. 

Membership has other benefits too.  Refinanced my mortgage through one of their approved /associated lenders a few years back.  Discount at affiliated dealers when buying cars.  15% off auto repairs at participating auto shops,  etc.  Their new visa credit card is also a great deal - 4% back on money spent at Costco. 

Just a few examples. You get discounts on a lot of other services as well. 

JustineCaseyFeldown

Gravytrain84 said:

Can someone explain to me what the hell blade tenderized means

Before you cook a crappy steak, stab it with hundreds of sharp needle like knives. 

You know, like cube steak. 

Shouldn't have to do it to decent meat.

if those are not graded, i'm betting it is select. Just a sh!t show on both counts

it is literally punctured hundreds of times in order to precut the meat (pre chewed really), while leaving it whole

again, search jaccard or jacquard

CincyTiki

Costco just launched this benefit too if you have their credit card.  I am not connected to them in any way, but do appreciate getting 4 years warranty on electronics

blind99

The prime filets aren't. Tons of other cuts are. I cooked a strip roast and didn't realize they had bladed the thing until I started slicing it. 

It seems very disingenuous to me to blade tenderize a piece of meat no one would ever want to cook to 165 degrees. 

Legume

I've never see ungraded beef there, usually a separate sticker that says prime or choice.

lousubcap

My Costco experience and what I buy from them-Packers are not Jacarrded and I have not seen that disclaimer on their rib-eye caps either.  Perhaps other cuts as mentioned above.  I will make a road trip this week-but that won't change the conversation.  FWIW- 

SmokinTiger81

The large uncut cryovac wrapped meats that you slice yourself are not blade tenderized at our Costco.  I think all the other pre-sliced ones are--does not matter if they are prime or not.  So I buy the uncut ones and cut them myself.  

Carolina Q

Helpful thread. Glad the OP posted it. Oh, wait........

JustineCaseyFeldown

Carolina Q said:

Helpful thread. Glad the OP posted it. Oh, wait........

Surprised OP didn't already know the answer. 

Carolina Q

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

Carolina Q said:

Helpful thread. Glad the OP posted it. Oh, wait........

Surprised OP didn't already know the answer. 

Why? The question was... do they tenderize; and if so, what do they tenderize. The only time I ever entered a Costco was when I took Mom for her hearing aid check. I looked at nothing, I bought nothing. Place looked like BJ's or Sam's. Ugh!

Eggcelsior

blind99 said:

The prime filets aren't. Tons of other cuts are. I cooked a strip roast and didn't realize they had bladed the thing until I started slicing it. 

It seems very disingenuous to me to blade tenderize a piece of meat no one would ever want to cook to 165 degrees. 

Costco did a member survey and the blade-tenderized ones out scored the non-tenderized ones by a wide margin. That's why they started doing it to the majority of cut steaks. 

I guess we all need to remember that we are quite a small group relative to the whole meat-eating population shopping at Costco.

SmokinTiger81

At our Costco, all the  pre sliced steaks, including prime filet and the prime rib eye caps, have the blade tenderized label.  The large unsliced, cryovac wrapped steaks, whether prime or not, have  not been blade tenderized.

hondabbq

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

There a grade on that?

i personalky have no desire to buy my meat prechewed, which is essentially what that is. 

I ran the 'blade tenderizer' as a kid working in the meat department. If you own a jaccard (multiple sp?), you know that cleaning is not easy. Now imagine one the size of a commercial dishwasher. 

Never cleaned it or saw it cleaned

If the meat doesn't have a USDA grade, it's probably no better than select. 

But isn't much of their stuff Prime ?  If so, why blade tenderize that?

seems odd. Not for me

i eat hamburgers with rare centers. But if yiu are afraid of that, this is basically the same thing. Allows bacteria in the interior 

That's the first thing I looked for was the grade. 
Probably the lowest grade then scissored to make it tender. 

Hans61

I like Costco steaks - where I'm at prime is the same price per pound and choice at the grocery store. 

blind99

lousubcap said:

My Costco experience and what I buy from them-Packers are not Jacarrded and I have not seen that disclaimer on their rib-eye caps either.  Perhaps other cuts as mentioned above.  I will make a road trip this week-but that won't change the conversation.  FWIW- 

Our packers are not bladed, our ribeye caps definitely are.  I'll be interested to see what you find. 

Lit

I have ground hundreds of pounds of their chuck roasts into medium rare burgers and never had an issue. Also eaten a couple of their steaks over the years pulled at 125-128 and no issues. Way batter and cheaper than the butchers around.

bigbadben

HeavyG said:

It's not something I worry about. Statistically, one is far more likely to be killed driving to Costco than eating a "bad" steak from them.

If that is a concern this is where sous vide is your friend. Cooked long enough the meat will be pasteurized and you can then sear it on your grill.

Here's a table that gives info for time/temp/thickness.

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_5.1

Or...you could just buy one of their whole prime ribs (which are not blade tenderized) and cut your own steaks to your preferred thickness.

I am with you on this one, SV is one choice. 

My other comment is that's are talking about Costco. If you are unhappy they will refund you full membership fee. 

caliking

Eggcelsior said:

blind99 said:

The prime filets aren't. Tons of other cuts are. I cooked a strip roast and didn't realize they had bladed the thing until I started slicing it. 

It seems very disingenuous to me to blade tenderize a piece of meat no one would ever want to cook to 165 degrees. 

Costco did a member survey and the blade-tenderized ones out scored the non-tenderized ones by a wide margin. That's why they started doing it to the majority of cut steaks. 

I guess we all need to remember that we are quite a small group relative to the whole meat-eating population shopping at Costco.

So true. I was heading to check out at Costco once, with a prime packer in my cart . A dude peeks in and says "Wow! That's a big hunka meat. What is it? Flank steak?"

SGH

hondabbq said:

That's the first thing I looked for was the grade. 
Probably the lowest grade then scissored to make it tender. 

Not the lowest grade, but a very low grade indeed. To my knowledge, the lowest grades of meat in the US are:
Utilty grade.
Cutter grade. 
Canner grade. 
There is a 99% chance that you have never seen, nor will you ever see these in their primal, subprimal or economy cut form for sale. 
However, Standard and Commercial grades are pretty common and fall below Select grade. You see them a lot as store brands. I'm going to make a name up as not to point at any particular store. If you were to go into Hortons Grocery store and buy Hortons brand of ground beef, it's almost certain that it was ground from Commercial/Standard grade meat. Not from meat that Horton raised. It's a misnomer. This is a very, very common practice among grocery chains. To be clear, I'm not saying that every store in the US does this. But well  over 50% of them certainly does. It's just good economics and very profitable to them. 
Rules and regulations change and I don't keep up with them any longer. But at one time, anything from Commercial or Standard grade did not have to marked or labeled as such. Primals and subprimals included. It was simply buyer beware. There is nothing unsafe or unsanitary about the meat. It just sucks for the most part. 
On the flip side of this, Cutter, Canner and Utilty grades, if ever sold in their primal or subprimal form would have to be clearly marked as such. But again, you will not likely ever encounter these. On that same note, all 3 can be ground and sold without being labeled as such. Kind of funny how all of that works.  
For the record, I do not stay up to date on current guidelines. Nor am I a Google God. Just stating what was the case circa 1992. Some of the above could have changed. But I doubt it.  

SGH

In the end, it's all akin to the debate of anus vs rectum. Once you reach that point, it really no longer matters. Just go with it if you like it.  

BYS1981

I cook all meats from costco to 165°F.


























I lie.

SGH

BYS1981 said:

I cook all meats from costco to 165°F.

That's about the internal temp I cook hare to. Give or take a little either way.