Is it just me? Raw meat at the grocery store

[Goofy_Disney_Dad]

Sorry. I can't help myself.

Okay, I didn't catch that at first but that is a pretty amusing twist on words.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

A manager was checking me out at Kroger not to long ago and the high school kid bagging started to put the meat in with other products. The manager shot him a look and I took it that there was a seperate bagging policy in place. I'm with you on the grossing out part.

#humblebrag

 

[SEA333]

Ok - thanks everyone! I wanted opinions and I got them!

So the preferences truly are mixed. No wonder the Customer Service Manager acted like it was no big deal...to her.

For me, I think I will keep on keeping my raw meat separate from food that will not be cooked before I eat it. After all, humans have been cooking their meat for over 10,000 years now. I think it's a little late in the game to say that consumption/contamination of salmonella-laced raw meat by typical humans is acceptable, or safe. (sushi and tartare aside..but I don't eat that either)

IMO.

Thanks everyone!

 

[anelson81993]

I am a cashier (among other things), and I've been a cashier for quite a few years now. I'm pretty sure my store's bagger training does cover bagging meat separately from other items...but a lot of the time, it just doesn't happen. I've found over the years that not too many people care about having them separated, and it is far more efficient for us to put meat in with other items if the customer doesn't care, so a lot of the time everything ends up together. Our store also has a lot of people who have never been trained to bag who end up bagging anyway--we just don't have enough people to bag and only bag, so a lot of the time we end up having to pull people from produce/meat/bakery/what-have-you, and the amount of training those people have really depends. I will say that a year or so ago our store director made a whole bunch of people who had never been recorded as taking bagger training do it, but even since then we've hired plenty of people who haven't gotten it (no one out of my department, for example, was even required to go).

As a cashier, I personally very rarely bag meat items on their own. That's because I currently work in a non-grocery department, and while we do have a cash register, we're not really set up to handle a whole lot of general grocery orders with things like meat and produce. Most of the time, the customers who check out in my department with meat items or other groceries do not care how they're bagged (or, more often than not, want their items in as few bags as possible to speed up the checkout process), and those who do care usually tell me in advance. Most of the staff in my department has never so much as done cashier training, never mind bagger training; almost everything people who are directly hired to my department do is hands-on training. Of our 14 or so employees, only 5 of us have had any kind of formal register training (one who received it almost 2 decades ago, two who were trained upon hire under a different management team, and one other person and I who have worked in other areas in the store), and I end up teaching the new people how to use the register. I might or might not run through basics of bagging depending on how much time we have for training. Theoretically, our cash register is primarily to be used for our department, not for grocery checkout (though in practice that very literally never happens), so for its intended purpose, our training is perfectly fine, and for the vast majority of our customers, it works. I'm sorry your store's practice didn't work for you this time, OP. I'd really suggest telling your cashier at any store in advance how you want things bagged, just because levels of training and store policies change with every individual and store (plus, store habits and practice; if you came and checked out tomorrow with anyone in my department, we'd probably try to bag your meat with the rest of your groceries, too, just because that's what we're used to our customers expecting). Being up front with your cashier is always the best way to make sure you have a pleasant and efficient experience!

OH, and on a personal (and off-topic!) note: I hatehatehate plastic shopping bags with the fury of a thousand suns. When I'm doing my own grocery shopping, I bag for myself so that I can minimize the number of bags used, or ask the cashier or bagger for the absolute minimum number of bags they can give me in order to hold everything, even if that means mixing meat and produce and Lord only knows what else. If I'm only buying a few things, no matter what I'm buying or where, I typically don't even take a bag--I just carry my stuff out. The things drive me crazy!

 

[kaytieeldr]

I usually put the meat on belt first and just tell the cashier my preference right away.

Exactly. I put a bag on the belt, then the things I want in that bag. Then another bag followed by what should go in it. Then another, and another. And I let the cashier and bagger know at the beginning of the order.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I put my meat last on the belt. My stores have plastic produce bags for bagging meats hanging up in the meat dept. and they always bag meat separate.

 

[aprilgail]

The thing I find strange is how many of you have other people bagging your groceries- we don't have baggers at supermarkets, you typically bag your own things. Every once in awhile one of the food stores by me has special needs people bagging the groceries an I typically will go through self checkout when that happens. I went through once and asked for something in a separate bag because I was dropping it off at someones house on the way home and the bagger yelled at me "don't tell me how to do my job I know what I am doing"- pissed me off and if it was not a special needs person I would have talked to the manager. I tend to just use the portable self scanner that you walk around the store and scan the items you are buying and put them in your bags as you shop-I prefer shopping this way.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

Sometimes my grocery has plastic bags near the meat and when they do I grab those and bag the meat in them. The days when those bags are gone, I always request the meat be bagged seperately from the other groceries and even chicken in one bag, beef in another. Most times the baggers ask but when they don't I request it.

Same with cleaning products - those go in a bag by themselves and I also try to put them on the conveyer belt together. Usually the cashiers bag it seperately from everything else except for the one I had yesterday who was new and then I requested it.

My grocery store is really good about that normally.

Where my inlaws and parents live, the only grocery is a bag your own type place. The cashiers put the items back in the buggy and you have to deal with it yourself when you get outside if you don't pay for bags - if you pay for bags, it's like .10 a bag and you bag at a the long shelf near the door exit.

 

[Katkatkat]

Thank you to the OP for raising awareness about this very important issue! My cousin passed away from Guillain-Barre, and a friend developed renal failure as a result of food-borne cross-contamination. Supermarkets are technically under the same laws as other businesses that are Food Handlers, and therefore should NEVER let high risk foods like raw meat, eggs, or fish come in contact with ready to eat foods like berries, lettuce, or bread, etc. Studies have shown that dangerous bacteria like campylobacter can be found on the outside of packaged meat. It's a myth that the plastic wrapping contains it, since the meat is packaged in a bacteria-laden environment.

Supermarkets need more accountability about this, with improved training and refresher courses for staff. No one should be humiliated for asking to have their meat bagged separately. In fact, it should happen anyway since the customer may have a chronic health issue like cancer, AIDS or an autoimmune disease, or may be pregnant, or may have someone with those conditions in their household or home.

 

[Karin1984]

I realize this thread is over six years old, but now that it is revived. I have never even considered doing this. And I don't know anyone who would put meat in different bags. Is this is an American thing or are there other other Europeans here who do recognize this?

Everything is properly packaged and even if there was the slightest chance that there is cross contamination it can't be longer than 20 minutes for me to bring groceries home. Like a 3 second rule when food drops on the floor.

(In the Netherland, we also do not have staff to put groceries in bags for us, we do that ourselves ;-) )

 

[Katkatkat]

I realize this thread is over six years old, but now that it is revived. I have never even considered doing this. And I don't know anyone who would put meat in different bags. Is this is an American thing or are there other other Europeans here who do recognize this?

Everything is properly packaged and even if there was the slightest chance that there is cross contamination it can't be longer than 20 minutes for me to bring groceries home. Like a 3 second rule when food drops on the floor.

(In the Netherland, we also do not have staff to put groceries in bags for us, we do that ourselves ;-) )

I'm an Aussie and this is a widespread problem here, much more so than anything I experienced when living overseas. Unfortunately, length of contact time doesn't necessarily make much difference to cross-contamination. E.coli can live on packaging for up to 24 hours. Packaging in an abattoir or butchers shop typically comes in contact with bacteria during handling / production. In one study, 61% of packaging had poultry juices on them, and in another, 43% of packages were contaminated.

 

[mrodgers]

You all's store employees bag more than 1 item in a double bag?

I never buy a meat product any smaller than a 1 lb. package and that would be way too heavy to put in a bag with anything else so it would get double bagged alone by the cashier. Drives me crazy the 1 or 2 items per double bag. I redistribute in the back of the car. My place is overrun with grocery store bags (I don't have near enough small garbage cans that need lined.)

I realize this thread is over six years old, but now that it is revived.

Grrr.... it got me.

 

[ronandannette]

Meh, zombie thread or not at least it’s an interesting “new” topic to discuss. Like it or not, here there are few stores that provide plastic grocery bags anymore. You are expected to bring your own or buy their reusable ones (prices range from $0.25 to $5.00 depending on the type). They will bag things as efficiently as possible when you’re purchasing the bags - you’d have to purposely ask to buy an extra one to keep the meat separate. I’ve heard so many people whine about having to spend a quarter - no cashier would dare assume you wanted extra unnecessarily. And since Covid no store will allow it’s staff to bag into bags you’ve brought from home; you have to do it yourself, and then you can pack your stuff however you want.

As to the actual issue - I don’t separate out the meat. I do however look super-closely at the condition of the packaging and make sure it’s tightly intact and not leaking. Is there a risk in that? Probably, like everything else in life but I’ve been grocery shopping for 35 years and have never had it cause an issue. Ramping back to the original 2015 post, I do believe in the “olden days” most stores had a policy of separating meat and cleaning products.

 

[monsterkitty]

I know this is a zombie thread, but I'm going to jump in anyway!

When I was in 5th grade I got e-coli. Probably from either a fast food burger or uncooked vegetables. No one else in my family got sick so it was something I ate outside the home. I was very sick for a very long time because of it, missing almost a semester of school.

I always ask them to please put the raw meat in a separate bag. I've had one bagger question me and I told her when you spend over a month in the hospital from e-coli then you can question me. She rolled her eyes at me and the checker told her to go somewhere else.

Sometimes, however, I don't catch they did it. A few weeks ago the bagger put hamburger that was leaking in with my lettuce and other salad veggies. I caught it when I was putting the bags in my car. I had even asked her to bag them separately. Granted, I was already cranky to begin with but this made me even more cranky. I walked the bag back into the store and up to customer service. The clerk just looked at me like I had two heads so I asked for the manager. He was kind and got me new items. He said he had heard me ask for the items to be bagged separately.

They are now letting us bring reusable bags back to the store but we have to bag them ourselves. No problem with that! I do put the raw meat in a plastic store bag, never the reusable.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I know this is a zombie thread, but I'm going to jump in anyway!

When I was in 5th grade I got e-coli. Probably from either a fast food burger or uncooked vegetables. No one else in my family got sick so it was something I ate outside the home. I was very sick for a very long time because of it, missing almost a semester of school.

I always ask them to please put the raw meat in a separate bag. I've had one bagger question me and I told her when you spend over a month in the hospital from e-coli then you can question me. She rolled her eyes at me and the checker told her to go somewhere else.

Sometimes, however, I don't catch they did it. A few weeks ago the bagger put hamburger that was leaking in with my lettuce and other salad veggies. I caught it when I was putting the bags in my car. I had even asked her to bag them separately. Granted, I was already cranky to begin with but this made me even more cranky. I walked the bag back into the store and up to customer service. The clerk just looked at me like I had two heads so I asked for the manager. He was kind and got me new items. He said he had heard me ask for the items to be bagged separately.

They are now letting us bring reusable bags back to the store but we have to bag them ourselves. No problem with that! I do put the raw meat in a plastic store bag, never the reusable.

Very few understand it who haven’t had it. It’s a nightmare, and can lead to long term health problems, and even death from kidney failure. It also takes relatively few bacteria to transmit an infection, so those drops of blood on packaging really can be a problem.

 

[prairie_girl]

In before times, when I would do grocery shopping, I put meat items in a produce bag, as our stores have several rolls spread around the meat section. After it was bagged, it was fine to go in with things like soup and yogurt. I also would put things like shampoo in with the crackers when bagging.

 

[BrianL]

It's not something that I really worry about, but also I pretty much only buy ground turkey and it is packaged in a plastic tub with a celophane top that is very well sealed. I might think differently about the meat that is in the styrofoam trays and wrapped with the flimsy stuff. Most things that I buy are fully packaged - I know, I eat too much processed food - so it's not a concern. Still, I understand erring on the side of caution.

 

[katie01]

I know this is a zombie thread, but I too always keep the raw meat separate from produce. One of the grossest things I saw was at a picnic, one of the guests brought a cooler full of ice, with raw ground hamburger in it, to grill at the park. The meat just had the cellphane lightly wrapped over the top. I was next to him as he then used that same ice to fill his drink cup and drink from it. I almost threw up. This is not the only weird or questionable thing I have seen this guy do, but it's surely one I will not forget

 

[olwyngdh]

My husband and I both worked in grocery stores back when rocks were soft and dirt was in beta and were trained on bagging groceries in the days before plastic bags. He worked as a bagger a lot more than I did--I was mostly in bakery or bulk foods with an occasional shift in deli and only got called to bag when we were really backed up. It makes us both crazy for people to bag our groceries because we end up with squished bread, broken eggs, and cross contamination. When we can bag ourselves, we do, when we can't he keeps an eagle eye on the bagger and makes sure it is done correctly. A friend of my daughter's that was a bagger at the commissary actually came over to the house at one point so that my husband could teach him how to do it right after he bagged our groceries at one point and my husband kept correcting him. He said that his tips (and baggers work for tips at the commissary) doubled after he learned to do it correctly.

 

[DisLiss]

Every store I've ever shopped for meat in has had bags right in the meat department for you to bag up your raw meat separately. So I have literally never experienced this issue.

But I wouldn't get into a back and forth with a cashier over it, even if they are a manager. I'd just ask for it to be bagged on its own, like I do every time I shop for ice cream.

Or, if you want to throw in something like "I once had a package leak on the way home, which was kind of gross to clean up", as a reason for your request. not that you require a reason, nor does that reason need to be true; but if you think it may help you avoid what you construed as a sarcastic response, then hey, why not?