I've been in the trade for 35 years and all of a sudden I'm seeing alot of post about " grind logs", what are they, and who requires them? Is it a government thing or company policy? I haven't a clue as to how I could track what goes into my grind.
Like I was saying in the other post i never had to do them in michigan in all the stores i worked in michigan they don't exist but in virginia they are binders with excel forms where we write down what we ground how lean it was. what time we ground it and did we use bench trim or tubes and so on. there were a few other things i don't remember. I have yet to find another cutter in michigan who ever had to do that.
The largest grocery chain in maine-hannaford just had a burger recall 2 months ago-19 people got sick from their burger over three states they could not source the product of the sickness-because of lack of grinding logs-
so, here is a major chain-has hundreds of stores-all with the same name- on the news -in the most embarrassing, humiliating manner possible-necause of no grinding logs, their was no chain of liability, so hannaford was left with looking humiliated
for 15 days straight, a picture of the store was on the news about making people sick-on the news, and in print it was stated SLOPPY RECORD KEEPING-meaning not sufficient grinding logs-the usda, the center for disease control and 2 other federal food agencies are involved-all revolving around where is the source??????????
so hannaford had to give refunds for all burger dold before dec. 15th- this has hurt the company'e image in a severe way-in a reaction to this-they are now dumping all bench trimmings and going strictly with tube burger-all because of chain of liability
now, because they did this-prices went up significantly, not only did this hurt there burger sales, but total store sales
the cutters of the company are nervous, that some top bean counter of del haize is going to say-lets bring in case ready meats-we will be guarateed the chain of liability with case ready meats-and do away with meat cutters at store level
I've had to start pushing the grinding logs to the stores I work with- most use bench trimmings and use many primals for different grades/descriptions and its quite a hassle- you have to document-who ground the batch, how much, what boxes the bench trimmings came from (est number, manufacturer number, serial number) and also who was the last person to wash rinse and sanitize the grinder
the store owners saw what happened to hannaford, they dont want to take a chance, of that happening to them, they need to CYA
The state inspectors will be looking for these logs
As a company policy, tube grind is not allowed within my organization and this is precisely why. The probability of e coli or salmonella is exponentially lower using whole muscle and block trim for your grind.
We don't use them at my company. But when I work my days off at other companies I have to do that. There's a lot of stuff you have to document.
In no particular order
1: the fat percentage of the tubes. 07, 10, 20, whatever
2: the company it came from
3: the grind number from the company
4: country of origin
5: the time the grind was done at the company
6: the date it was ground at the company
7: shop trim?
8: the time you ground it in your store
9: the grind number at your store. Meaning you start at 1 and the next time you grind it's 2, etc. Later when you wrap it, you must match that number with the label on each package. Every package from grind 17 will have a 17 on it somewhere. It's a real pain to change the number each time you wrap a new grind.
10: that you washed and sanitized the grinder.
I'm sure I missed at least one thing. Any help here?
thats a hell of a list burgermeister. I ll try to remember mine from virginia more clearly
1. Lean percentage 2. how much was ground (weight) 3. Was any bench Trim added? 4. if so how much bench trim was added? 5. Date it was ground in Store 6. Time it was ground in Store 7. Tracking number off the boxes 8, Company name of the meat packing plant 9. packed date off the boxes 10.initials of employee who did the grinding 11. initials of employee who cleaned the grinder (usually the same person)
its starting to look like these are company policies but inspectors like to look at them.
Grind logs a must at my store. #'s, origin,date, time, sanitize. Grinding is not an option for conversion of close dated items. hallos to the bone barrel, not the trimmings. I started weighing up the hallos at first . $30 - $ 40 a day in the bone barrel.
thats a hell of a list burgermeister. I ll try to remember mine from virginia more clearly
1. Lean percentage 2. how much was ground (weight) 3. Was any bench Trim added? 4. if so how much bench trim was added? 5. Date it was ground in Store 6. Time it was ground in Store 7. Tracking number off the boxes 8, Company name of the meat packing plant 9. packed date off the boxes 10.initials of employee who did the grinding 11. initials of employee who cleaned the grinder (usually the same person)
its starting to look like these are company policies but inspectors like to look at them.
Oops. You're right. I missed a few. The amount you ground. I listed time of grind in the store, but not date of grind in store. By "grind number at the company, I meant "tracking number" so that's the same.
Like you said, I think this is company policy and not a law or anything like that. That could change soon.
Grind logs a must at my store. #'s, origin,date, time, sanitize. Grinding is not an option for conversion of close dated items. hallos to the bone barrel, not the trimmings. I started weighing up the hallos at first . $30 - $ 40 a day in the bone barrel.
what are hallos? Is that your name for rewraps/reworks? I never heard that term
At Kroger we have to log our grinds in on an RF gun, scan a bar code on the cooler door for company ID, enter pack date, type of grind, lbs, and sell by date. Oh, and whether it is patties, or trimmings.
We have to do this every day. If we skip, it shows up on meat merchandising office, throws a red flag, and we get our asses chewed. If it happens too many times "somebody" gets wrote up.
(edit) And every once in a while, Proctor and Gamble inspectors come in and they want to see a printout from the store computer of grind logs from the past week.
Ain't modern technology just grand?
-- Edited by Jetplane on Friday 3rd of February 2012 01:06:22 AM
rewraps is a 7 letter curse word in the meat departments of today
the independent stores have much more flexibility
A big part of my job is to grow margins in meat departments- to put systems in place to deter/prevent shrink, and what to do with shrink before you take a loss
In the past five years, I know of over 30 meat departments, that now cook everyday, not only to deter shrink, but to cook sale items for margin. I push that meat depts cook (chicken and pork) and place in warmers, or even back in your case cold with a fully cooked sticker on it
over 20 departments have seen a swing of over 15k a year, just by cooking-and keeping a meat tag for sales and margin credit
chain stores its tough to do, but independents can do it- it may seem like alot of time-but it's not- it keeps your case fresher-selling more product
I use to take my day old grinds and make meatloaf-cook it, then slice, layer on trays in the warmer/or cold in the case with shredded white/yellow cheese on top and also made cooked meatballs- once you cook it and display cold, its good for 5 days-at higher margins
