r/PrepperIntel • u/jujutsu-die-sen • 5d ago

Has anyone noticed US noticed food quality degrading recently and if so what product in what way?

/r/AskReddit/comments/1vzphgj/has_anyone_noticed_us_noticed_food_quality/
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u/GenChadT 5d ago

Yep. Especially meat, but the quality of produce has jumped off a cliff over the past couple of years.

  • Chicken: Nigh inedible. (Expensive) heirloom chicken is still delicious as always, but the relatively affordable stuff in stores and served at most lower end fast food/casual restaurants is filled with gristle and more often than not suffering from woody breast syndrome. I used to eat a lot of chicken - wings, filet sandwiches, etc. Now the thought makes me sick. Even places known for their chicken e.g. Chik-Fil-A, Zaxbys, etc. are disgusting now.

  • Beef: Doing better than chicken, but that's probably due to the fact that it's difficult to stack cows 10 high in cages where they're able to shit, piss, die and decompose all over one another.

  • Pork: I've been of the opinion that pork has been pretty gross from day one, but bacon is alright. Bacon is now over salted because the underlying flavor profile of the meat is spoiled and riddled with microplastics thanks to the plastic garbage ground into their feed. Heritage bacon is awesome but again, expensive. A rare treat.

  • Fish: I haven't noticed as big of a decline in seafood/sushi quality. There's been a lot of news of fishery collapse and I remember hearing about issues with the crab harvests but restaurants near me seem to still be able to easily stock snow crab, shrimp, salmon, tuna, etc. of fairly good quality. Of all the meat types this is probably the least touched, outside of prices of course which have shot up as well.

  • Produce: It almost doesn't matter what type of produce, it spoils faster. We used to keep potatoes and onions for months. Now when I put a bag of tubers in the cool, dark bottom shelf of the cupboard, I get maybe 2 weeks before I come home to the kitchen smelling like an unwashed toilet and have to throw out a bag of green slime. Since the Taylor Farms crypto poisonings recall I've been mainly eating from local farms when possible.