• If you are having problems logging in please use the Contact Us in the lower right hand corner of the forum page for assistance.

Walmart Cheating?

A

Anonymous

Guest
Wal-Mart's Organic Food Initiative: A Case of Hippie Capitalism Gone Awry?
Posted on Nov 15th, 2006 with stocks: WMT

George Gutowski submits: Wal-Mart (WMT) has run afoul for potentially misrepresenting non-organic food as organic. Much skepticism about Wal-Mart’s true commitment to organic and whole foods greeted Wal-Mart’s original announcement that they are embracing the organic food sector. Traditionally Wal- Mart has been very demanding of its suppliers. They frequently have demanded and received substantial product changes. Such was/is their power with traditional consumer goods manufacturers. But the organic food industry has a passion that may match Wal-Mart’s purchasing behavior. In any event, there is now more doubt and skepticism about Wal-Mart’s entry into this food category.

The Cornucopia Institute based in Wisconsin leads this charge. Their announcement reads as follows:

The Cornucopia Institute, the nation's most aggressive organic farming watchdog, has filed a formal legal complaint with the USDA asking them to investigate allegations of illegal "organic" food distribution by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Cornucopia has documented cases of non-organic food products being sold as organic in Wal-Mart's grocery departments.

"We first noticed that Wal-Mart was using in-store signage to misidentify conventional, non-organic food as organic in their upscale-market test store in Plano, Texas," said Mark Kastel of The Cornucopia Institute. Subsequently, Cornucopia staff visited a number of other Wal-Mart stores in the Midwest and documented similar improprieties in both produce and dairy sections.

Cornucopia notified Wal-Mart's CEO Lee Scott in a letter on Sept. 13, 2006, alerting the company to the problem and asking that it address and correct the situation on an immediate basis. But the same product misrepresentations were again observed weeks later at separate Wal-Mart stores. Fines of up to $10,000 per violation for proven incidents of organic food misrepresentation are provided for in federal organic regulations.

Earlier this year, Wal-Mart announced a sweeping organic foods initiative and declared that they would greatly increase the number of organic offerings for sale in their stores — at dramatically lower prices than the competition. The move by the giant retailer has been under close scrutiny from members of the organic community.




"This is disturbing and a serious problem," Kastel said. "One can question whether Wal-Mart has the management and staff expertise necessary to fully understand organics and the marketing requirements essential to selling organic food. Given their size, market power, and market clout, this is very troubling."

A number of other organic food retailers throughout the country, including Whole Foods Markets (WFMI) and many of the nation's member-owned grocery cooperatives have gone to the effort to become certified organic in terms of the handling of their products and have invested heavily in staff training.

This past September, The Cornucopia Institute also issued a white paper, "Wal-Mart Rolls Out Organic Products — Market Expansion or Market Delusion?" The report accuses Wal-Mart of cheapening the value of the organic label by sourcing products from industrial-scale factory-farms and Third World countries, such as China."

Wal-Mart does not have this category under control.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
If Walmart can not get their labeling correct, it is pretty scary that they sell so much food. You would never know if they were telling the truth.

If Walmart is cheating with organic labeling, the economic damage to the rest of the market is the present value of the goods they have sold. If the goods are inelastic, the economic damage could be larger than the value of the goods they have sold.

Yes, SH, damages can be larger than the profits or even the present value of the goods sold.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
So if one does need proof,ask them to secure ScoringAg records for the product their selling which will show the traceback trail right to the grower and his certifiers with activitys. I had a store chain in Mi approach me about securing Orgainc food locally but it ended up they wanted no part of ScoringAg as they were cheating and having a verification trail was not of their liking .
 

Econ101

Well-known member
PORKER said:
So if one does need proof,ask them to secure ScoringAg records for the product their selling which will show the traceback trail right to the grower and his certifiers with activitys. I had a store chain in Mi approach me about securing Orgainc food locally but it ended up they wanted no part of ScoringAg as they were cheating and having a verification trail was not of their liking .

The fact that cheating is so prevalent shows that the USDA is not doing its job of insuring the integrity of food in the market place.

The economic rewards exceed the economic penalties placed on such companies.

Goodlatte, Chambliss, Bonillo, and Sec. Johanns should be held accountable for such lapses in USDA oversight of the market.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
One of the reasons is MONEY !!!!!!!!!! They don't want COOL,They didn't want Organic till it was fashionable. It's corporations against the consumer,just counterfeit and lie to steal your hard earned money.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
PORKER said:
One of the reasons is MONEY !!!!!!!!!! They don't want COOL,They didn't want Organic till it was fashionable. It's corporations against the consumer,just counterfeit and lie to steal your hard earned money.

And a lack of government oversight to not allow it to happen. When Goodlatte, Chambliss, and Bonilla sell out their responsibilities in the Ag. Committees to the big money, we all lose. They should be in jail, not Congress.
 

PORKER

Well-known member
JUST look at how the used car salesman ranks in a city. Goodlatte, Chambliss, and Bonilla sell out just like a cattle jockey.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Hey Econ- Isn't this like your buying the select beef from Walmart that was labeled choice?

Yesterday I had to be out of town for awhile so ate at a restaurant last night..Stopped at the one that advertises CAB beef...On the menu it said their steaks were Prime Choice Cuts- so I asked the waitress if they were prime or choice grade- to which I got a blank stare and a "HUH"... (Kind of like a Canuck- but she has advanced past "EH" :wink: :lol: )

Anway the meat to me was neither prime or choice- 1/4 of it was gristle- tasted like it may have been of EXT/Saler cross breeding and fleeing from a Polar Bear shortly before it was slaughtered :wink: ...I wanted to chew on the manager, but he was on his Friday night party rounds....But this is kind of the same thing I've been seeing with a lot of restaurant meat lately- definitely isn't the quality it used to be 15-20 years ago....

We definitely need some oversight and enforcement on the meat marketing and truth in labeling- but since USDA has dominated with a Stalinistic iron fist, most the state agencies hands are tied/ or are afraid to do anything- and USDA is too busy fighting to protect the frauds being perpetrated by the Big Corporate Interests....
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Hey Econ- Isn't this like your buying the select beef from Walmart that was labeled choice?

Yesterday I had to be out of town for awhile so ate at a restaurant last night..Stopped at the one that advertises CAB beef...On the menu it said their steaks were Prime Choice Cuts- so I asked the waitress if they were prime or choice grade- to which I got a blank stare and a "HUH"... (Kind of like a Canuck- but she has advanced passed EH :wink: :lol: )

Anway the meat to me was neither prime or choice- 1/4 of it was gristle- tasted like it may have been of EXT breeding and fleeing from a Polar Bear shortly before it was slaughtered :wink: ...I wanted to chew on the manager, but he was on his Friday night party rounds....But this is kind of the same thing I've been seeing with a lot of restaurant meat lately- definitely isn't the quality it used to be 15-20 years ago....

We definitely need some oversight and enforcement on the meat marketing and truth in labeling- but since USDA has dominated with a Stalinistic iron fist, most the state agencies hands are tied/ or are afraid to do anything- and USDA is too busy fighting to protect the frauds being perpetrated by the Big Corporate Interests....

The last time I was in Walmart I asked about their meat. I got a layering of answers. The first meat guy said he thought it was choice, but said I would have to ask the overall meat manager. We got him and the overall manager said it was choice select meat. I said there was no such thing. Then he said it was a high select, almost choice.

By not providing the grade on the label, the USDA allows for consumers to be defrauded in this manner. I doubt many people know enough about meat to press for the real answer as I did.

This shows that the meat industry has easily bypassed telling the consumer the truth about the meat they sell. When you sell prime for choice, choice for select, and on down, you prevent price transmission from the consumer to the producers. The middlemen can and do play all sorts of games ---all at the ultimate expense of consumers and producers. When we allow these games to be played in the industry, we hurt the overall industry although individual players may gain temporary advantage.

Preventing these type of frauds is the job of the USDA. They have completely rolled over their oversight of the industry in return for big donations by the packers. Some of these higher ups at the USDA need to explain who was telling them to let our food degrade in such ways (Bonilla, Chambliss, Goodlatte, republican cronies, the Sec. of Agriculture) and hold them accountable. Public servants have to expose their political handlers if we are going to do away with corruption in government.

Some of these people need to be in jail.
 

Mike

Well-known member
I was in a "Sunday Dinner" (U.S. Foods) wholesale restaurant warehouse this past week to pick up two tenderloins for my nephews birthday party.
A friend of mine works in the office and lets me in when I need something special or in a large quantity.

There was no stamp on the tenderloins in the walk-in cooler. I asked the meat manager why.

He told me they do not buy graded tenderloins because there is no marbling in them anyway. They are all "No Roll". He also said they order a lot of whole ribeyes in "No Roll" and has never had a complaint.

I got two of those No Roll tenderloins and they were excellent.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Mike said:
I was in a "Sunday Dinner" (U.S. Foods) wholesale restaurant warehouse this past week to pick up two tenderloins for my nephews birthday party.
A friend of mine works in the office and lets me in when I need something special or in a large quantity.

There was no stamp on the tenderloins in the walk-in cooler. I asked the meat manager why.

He told me they do not buy graded tenderloins because there is no marbling in them anyway. They are all "No Roll". He also said they order a lot of whole ribeyes in "No Roll" and has never had a complaint.

I got two of those No Roll tenderloins and they were excellent.


From Recipetips.com :


No-Roll Beef

A term used to describe beef that has not been graded by the USDA. Beef carcasses graded by the USDA have a grading stamp rolled on the exterior fat of the carcass to identify the grade of the meat. Carcasses not graded have no USDA rolling stamp, hence the name “No-Roll”. Unlike the mandatory USDA safety inspection paid for by the government, grading of beef is optional and is paid for by the processor. Since only the best grades of beef (Prime and Choice) justify the expense of optional grading, a large share of the beef sold in the United States is not graded. If it were graded, most of the no-roll beef would be graded “Select”.
 

Econ101

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Mike said:
I was in a "Sunday Dinner" (U.S. Foods) wholesale restaurant warehouse this past week to pick up two tenderloins for my nephews birthday party.
A friend of mine works in the office and lets me in when I need something special or in a large quantity.

There was no stamp on the tenderloins in the walk-in cooler. I asked the meat manager why.

He told me they do not buy graded tenderloins because there is no marbling in them anyway. They are all "No Roll". He also said they order a lot of whole ribeyes in "No Roll" and has never had a complaint.

I got two of those No Roll tenderloins and they were excellent.


From Recipetips.com :


No-Roll Beef

A term used to describe beef that has not been graded by the USDA. Beef carcasses graded by the USDA have a grading stamp rolled on the exterior fat of the carcass to identify the grade of the meat. Carcasses not graded have no USDA rolling stamp, hence the name “No-Roll”. Unlike the mandatory USDA safety inspection paid for by the government, grading of beef is optional and is paid for by the processor. Since only the best grades of beef (Prime and Choice) justify the expense of optional grading, a large share of the beef sold in the United States is not graded. If it were graded, most of the no-roll beef would be graded “Select”.

Its too bad that choice is described as the best grade of beef instead of the standard. It is a lowering of expectations after "good" was turned into the more consumer palatable "select".

Many cuts of meat will work in "select" but "choice" is still better. You can probably get a steak at the waffle house and it will taste okay but probably grades under select. Depends on the cut and the cook.
 

William Kanitz

Well-known member
News Clip:
In another instance with possible international overtones, I( William Bailey)recently attempted to learn about some meat I bought at Wal-Mart. I didn’t want to know the source animal’s name or favorite color, only its heritage — where the animal was from. So I called the headquarters of Wal-Mart.

Over the past three weeks, despite several promises of information, Wal-Mart has not been able to answer my simple question.

So with no information provided from Wal-Mart, I feel free to make up my own history. Maybe Wal-Mart doesn’t know anything about the meat.

Wal-Mart is, after all, just the retailer and may not be interested in, or feel responsible for, the food products it sells. Or, perhaps worse, Wal-Mart does know the meat’s heritage, but doesn’t want me to know.

Maybe the meat was from China, the 11th largest exporter of red meat to the U.S. Or maybe Vietnam, the 16th largest exporter of red meat.

I like to think it was from the U.S., but who knows? Wal-Mart apparently doesn’t.



William Bailey is chair of Western Illinois University’s agriculture department.
 
Top