[adrianco]

I wonder if the other Boars Head plants also have issues. Avoid the entire brand? What brands have better hygiene?

[cdchn]

I always thought Boars Head _was_ the premium brand.

[ryandrake]

Pretty scary how many people get fooled by "premium" branding. Think about what made you think that Boars Head was "premium". Was there any evidence that their meats were higher than average quality, that didn't ultimately come from the company itself? Or was it all their product positioning, price, what stores they were found in and so on (in other words, Marketing).

[dan_quixote]

Did you ever try the previous brands available at your grocer before Boars Head cornered the market? For my local grocers it was an immediate reduction in variety, increase in price and equal-to-worse quality. Nothing about that move was better for the customer.

[HarryHirsch]

There's a German proverb that goes like "a butcher will only eat sausage he has made himself". Now you know the background.

[downut]

Where I live, both of the two major supermarket chains (Publix x 3, Kroger x 3) with stores within an epsilon of my house feature Boar's Head next to their house brands. Other than the odd Food Depot there are no other grocery corp brands within probably 25 miles.

I have historically frequently bought Boar's Head meats from the deli counter because I can get them sliced prosciutto thin and they have the texture to support that. And the overall flavor experience when buried in a creatively built sandwich is "not terrible". Absolutely revolting when compared directly against handmade pastrami, ham, corned beef etc., but not bad in a sandwich.

However: in the last year I have noticed Boarshead moving more of their cured charcuterie meats into "nitrate free", which is a lie, they use celery instead, but of course that degrades the texture and flavor a bit.

So now I just buy the house brand meats when I'm slumming, and make my own pastrami, ham, and corned beef from time to time. For two olds a 5lb batch of cured meat is a lot. Like 6-12 months. But homemade charcuterie is so astoundingly good.

So no, I don't consider Boar's Head a premium brand. At least, not anymore. I smell enshittification at work.

Also, everybody should have the chance to try out real charcuterie.

[engineer_22]

From this, and linked articles on New York Times, the suggestion is laxed food safety standards are endemic across the entire processed food industry.

[datavirtue]

It requires engagement from the employees...a culture. On this, everyone is failing. Our leaders have contorted and conflicting allegiances. Their minds are filled with numbers swelling and cash multiplying. The focus is not on delivering value for all stakeholders.

[gorbachev]

From 2009: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/04/health/04meat.html

Slaughterhouses not testing their products for E coli, because it's too expensive. Slaughterhouses blacklisting customers who do their own testing. USDA has no effective regulatory powers to change that.

[briffle]

Goes way before that: https://www.history.com/news/upton-sinclair-the-jungle-us-fo...

[nxobject]

I’ll admit, if arguments about nitrates being carcinogenic aren’t a convincing reason to avoid processed meat, this might just be one.

[nathan_compton]

I avoid pork entirely. The business is outrageously cruel and dirty even by industrial farming standards.

[taco_emoji]

What does pork specifically have to do with this? BH supplies all sorts of deli meat, not just pork

[pfdietz]

Dietz & Watson?

I have no idea if they are cleaner or not, but I like their name. :)

[justin66]

You can always just go to a butcher.

[pwg]

In order to do so, one has to have a local butcher who is still in operation.

For many, any such local butchers were driven out of business years ago by the lower cost options in the supermarkets produced by the bulk producers, so the option to "just go to a butcher" is no longer available, at any cost.

[ncr100]

I recently ate hot dogs from a local butcher.

Oh my God -- so much better.

Definitely go to a local butcher. You have no idea how much better it is. Comparatively, even the seemingly high quality supermarket Hot dogs taste like water plastic with salt, compared to the delicious meaty spongy texture sausage sticks that are local butcher hot dogs. It's seriously a whole lot better.

[downut]

18 months ago when I moved cross country to the Atlanta area I was delighted and excited to find out that my house was 10 min from a real butcher! OMG, what I always wanted. Then I talked to the counter man (no butcher on site), bought the meats, and then asked some questions about the curing process, and discovered that the reason the meats tasted like Boar's Head is that butcher shop chain (3 stores) explicitly taste competed against Boar's Head. To the point of being "nitrate-free", oops celery is in the label.

No point paying the premium (I would have paid double for authentic charcuterie), and then I tried to buy a goose during the Holidays and nope, can't do that. Haven't been back.