This whole pink slime / lean fine textured beef story has me thinking... what ever happened to the local butcher?
I grew up on a farm and am still lightly involved in the operations, I have an ownership interest in some beef cattle with my brother, I have cousins who work in the meat industry, and years ago my uncle ran the local butcher shop. So admittedly I probably think about beef/meat a bit differently than the average grocery shopper.
Back in the day, when I was really young, I remember there being a butcher shop in town. I vaguely remember going inside once and, as I recall, I think I remember Mom telling me that we didn't shop there very often because it was more expensive than the local grocery store. But before I was very old the butcher shop burned down and was never rebuilt.
Today most of our meat comes from a grocery store, from a very large meat processing company, from a feedlot. Over the entire product life-cycle, from mama cow's udder to feedlot to packer to grocer to kitchen freezer, that meat probably travels hundreds, if not thousands, of miles.
Back in the day, the life cycle of meat may have stayed within a single the county. A farmer had beef cows, fattened the steer calves, took them into town to the local butcher, and the meat was either brought home to the farm freezer or sold in the shop to the town's folk.
So what caused us to transition away from home grown food to meat from parts unkown? Here are some of the reasons I think contributed to the downfall of the local butcher shop:
- Dwindling populations in rural communities, decreased local demand for meat.
- Farm crisis in the 1980's set back rural economies, probably hurt nearly every business in rural communities. Again pressure on demand.
- Downward price pressure from big, growing meat packing companies who could use economies of scale to produce low cost food.
- FDA regulations that might increase the costs of "food safety" compliance for small butcher shops.
- Commodity cost fluctuations. A large packer/processor and feedlot would more easily be able to hedge against volatility in both inputs and revenues. The local shop would be less likely to benefit from these contracts and hedge against risk.
Decreased demand, price competition, increased compliance costs, price volatility... that's a recipe for small business failure.
If you can think of other reasons or if you agree/disagree with mine, please comment below. Or if you have any stories about back in the day when the local butcher reigned supreme (the pre-chicken nugget era maybe?), you DEFINITELY need to comment below. I'd love to hear your stories.