If you eat meat and are shopping for the ingredients for your dinner, heading to the butcher counter or refrigerated section at the supermarket is often the most convenient and affordable way to stock up on protein. However, according to professional butchers, the quality of meat at the supermarket or convenience store is often below the standard of butcher shops that specialize in well-sourced animal products.

“The main difference between a butcher shop and a grocery store is the attention to detail that a butcher shop offers, starting with the fact that the quality of sourcing takes priority over price,” said Michael SapersteinCo-owner of Sunshine Provisions in South Florida.

As Saperstein suggests, buying meat from specialty butchers can be a costly endeavor. James PeiskerCo-founder of Porter Road, points out that the higher prices are because “small butchers across the country put in a lot of extra work to find farms that care for the land and animals, making the product healthier and tastier.”

Specialty butchers can also cut meat more precisely than their supermarket counterparts. “The skilled craftsmen have worked hard to know and understand the different cuts,” Peisker said. “This knowledge and quality should be worth paying a little more and supporting.”

When we spoke to professional butchers, they generally acknowledged that most American consumers buy meat at the supermarket at some point, and that they generally get satisfactory products there. But for the following five cuts of meat and meat-related products, butchers advise you to avoid the supermarket and visit a butcher shop instead.

Because ground beef is typically less expensive than premium meat and is typically used in dishes like burgers, meatloaf, and meatballs (which contain other ingredients and toppings that mask the flavor of the meat), we assumed our experts would say it’s OK to buy it at grocery stores. But butchers Luis Mata said: “GI would not buy round meat products, especially ground beef and chicken, from the butcher’s shop in the supermarket. The majority of these products come pre-ground from large meat processing plants, where the risk of contamination is much higher.” Mata tells us that these contamination risks can cause foodborne illness and in some cases “have led to large-scale product recalls in huge geographic regions.”

By buying ground meat and poultry directly from the butcher, you can “reduce the risk of contamination while ensuring freshness and quality,” Mata said. Specialty butchers source their meat from smaller suppliers, so they know how the animals are raised, how the meat is processed and exactly what goes into each ground mixture.

“Ground beef from the supermarket usually comes pre-ground straight from the slaughterhouse, where a mixture of different cuts of meat – and not necessarily the best – are used. “This process can affect the taste and quality of the meat,” said Mata. He pointed out that quality butchers usually grind their own meat and use “cuts of prime muscle meat.”

“This method allows them to control the quality and fat content of the ground meat, ensuring a first-class product,” he said.

Grocery stores have recently increased their seafood offerings; many in-store butcher shops offer fish and shellfish that they advertise as “fresh.”

But unless you shop at a grocery store that is very close to a body of water, Rusty arborsOwner and master butcher of Pine Street Market in Decatur, Georgia, warns that one should question the “freshness” of seafood from the supermarket.

“My rule of thumb is, if you can’t drive 20 minutes from the beach to that store, buy your seafood from the freezer” rather than the meat counter, Bowers said. He told us that if visiting a specialty fishmonger isn’t an option, frozen seafood is a better choice because “most frozen seafood (as indicated on the label) is processed on the boat and flash frozen to preserve its freshness shortly after being caught from the sea.”

“We’ve all walked past the fresh seafood counter at the supermarket that smells like low tide on a hot day,” Bowers added. “Please be careful.”

Aged beef is popular with meat eaters for its tender texture and bold flavor. Artisanal butchers have used aging processes for centuries, and as conversations about aging beef move into the mainstream, we’re now seeing grocery stores try to get in on the game.

But according to Rich SilvermanHead butcher of The Lambing Shed Farm Shop & Kitchen in Cheshire, England, Supermarkets don’t have the time, equipment or facilities to age their meat in a beneficial way. “Local butchers have the time and space to dry age the meat by hanging it on the bone as a whole carcass. This is a far better way to age meat and gives the product a much better flavor. It contains much less moisture and therefore cooks better. This is a tried and tested method that has been used for centuries by butchers around the world,” explained Silverman.

Grocery stores, however, tend to age their beef through “wet aging.” Silverman describes this process as “pre-cutting meat in a package and then aging it in that package.”

“So when you see a label in the supermarket that says ‘aged 21 days,’ the meat is not fully cooked and therefore not dry,” he said. “The meat is cooked so the moisture cannot escape. So when you cook it, the moisture steams the meat from the inside and makes it tough.”

Pieces of meat sold with the bone are a treat for braising and the leftover bones can be used for homemade broth. Jerry RempeMaster butcher at Omaha Steaks, mentions that bone-in meat available in grocery store meat counters “will turn ‘sour’ more quickly than boneless products, depending on the age of the meat and the way it was stored.” The presence of bones affects the pH of the meat, which can lead to “a foul odor, a slimy consistency and sometimes a change in color,” he said. “The sour smell is often caused by the production of organic acids by the bacteria that break down the proteins and fats in the meat.”

Rempe told us that meat can become sour “because of the amount of air, enzymes and other compounds affecting it when the bone is in an area of ​​the carcass that is not quickly and effectively reached by refrigeration.” Since cuts of meat are not typically flash frozen in the supermarket, the clock on their freshness starts counting down from the moment they are cut and packaged. Supermarket meat counters do not have exact temperature precision and packaged meat can sit there for more than a day, so the likelihood of bone sourness is higher than at a smaller artisanal butcher who changes meat daily or at a larger operation that flash freezes.

Some upscale grocery stores now carry liver, kidneys, sweetbreads, and homemade pâtés and terrines, which may be good news for those of us who love the richness and flavor of offal. But Rosangela TeodoroOwner and butcher of Teodora’s Boucherie in Cohasset, Massachusetts, recommends shoppers seek out a butcher who specializes in these difficult-to-prepare cuts.

“As a specialist delicatessen butcher, I also have extensive experience in cutting and trimming specific cuts of meat. I use specialist equipment and keep the meat at a constant temperature to prevent spoilage. (That’s why) I would never buy pâté and terrine from the butcher in the grocery store, because proper preparation requires special equipment and expertise,” said Teodoro.

When it comes to organs, chef Jeanne Oleksiak from Herd Provisions Restaurant and Butcher Shop in Charleston, South Carolina, also points out that “they’re usually frozen (in grocery stores) and not in high demand, so they spend a lot of time moving from freezer to freezer, especially when they’re on sale.” In an artisanal butcher shop, offal is more likely to be sourced fresh and stored under optimal conditions.