Bad Ribs

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

dburne

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Jun 29, 2013
229
14
Nashville TN
So I am about to embark on my 3rd smoke. I picked up three racks of spare ribs Thursday night, and late last night started my prep work on them.

Got the first rack done, wrapped and in the fridge - opened the second rack and whoa, the stench was horrible. Checked the date on the label, sell by Aug 27th.  Third rack was ok. On top of that, I have company which is why I am doing this smoke today, and was embarrassing when I opened that rack up and the stench hit...

What is frustrating to me, especially as I am still new to this - the three times I have bought spare ribs, two times I ended up with a bad rack.  The last time, the rack that was bad, I had purchased about 4 days prior, and it's sell buy date was the same as the day I went to prep them, so that was marginal I guess that tim

Does this happen to other folks a lot? It was tough last night as it was already late, and too late to go pick up another rack, will have to do that this morning.
 
Last edited:
Thanks Flash, well the other two racks I have already rubbed , wrapped and in the fridge - they were fine, their date was like 9/5.  Will definitely be taking that bad rack back this morning. And it was strange really - these I got at Kroger, as Publix where I usually get them was out. These I got, were sealed up in like a heavy plastic wrapping, like a vacuum bag or something. Also a fair amount of blood in that sealed bag.  One of the racks, seemed different, the back appeared to have a membrane, but when started to peel, it was just bare  rib bone behind it. One edge was trimmed as well, almost like a want to be St Louis cut, thought they were not labeled that way. The other rack that was good, appeared like normal spare ribs to me.

The times I have got them from Publix, they were just on a white plastic tray with plastic wrap covering them, and a third of the length folder over on top.
 
Last edited:
this happened to me a few weeks ago. Kroger as well.,, sounds like same brand too.. but Im not sure the actual brand. One smelled odd.. the other seemed fine, but same dates on them. Took them both back.. and didnt get anymore from that location. hap happy smoken today!
 
that happened to me with some baby backs (kind of ) . I bought 4 racks , each was in it's own cryovac , and they were the natural type with no added this and that's . I believe they are normally 9.99 lb and the meat guy was marking them down to 2.99 lb because he said he got a new shipment and he wanted to try to sell these first . So I bought the 4 racks . I think I still had a week and a half or so before there sell by date . I got home and prepped 2 racks and they were fine . Then a few days later (4 or 5 ) I went to do the other 2 racks and when I opened the first package , the smell hit me and it was bad . They looked fine but the smell was so bad I just immediately put the opened one and the unopened into the trash . The smell was really bad . One thing I thought of is maybe someone had it in their cart and for some reason just put it on a shelf somewhere ( changing there mind and not wanting it ) and an employee finds it the next day or something and puts it back in the meat case ? The saddest part was the first 2 were really good . I usually only get the ones that have the 12% or whatever solution added and I def. could tell the difference . I have no idea what went on with the bad one , maybe some one will chime in with some more thoughts.
 
Well we got it replaced this morning, no arguments from Kroger at all. The new rack is the same date as my other two racks that were good, so no problem on this one.

About to go rub em, and start up the smoker.

Thanks guys, was mainly venting as it was so frustrating. Off for my third ever smoke!!
 
Have had similar problems with chicken from Kroger. Sorry...happened too many times...so I never shop there any more.

Kat
 
I've had that happen before, too. Unfortunately, I usually buy when they're on sale and throw them in the freezer, so there is no immediate knowledge that they're bad, and no refunds coming back.
 
I
Have had similar problems with chicken from Kroger. Sorry...happened too many times...so I never shop there any more.

Kat
I just had that problem with Kroger chicken. Sadly... I may have to start getting meat at Wally World. We had another option but Kroger bought it and shut them down :(

Lesson to be learned, trust your nose!
 
Last edited:
Seeing this post I just had to chime in. Last week I bought a cryovac of baby back ribs from Sam's Club. Opened it up and all looked and smelled good. Washed the ribs down, rubbed, and cooked in my large smoker hot and fast. My wife, son, and myself ate one of the 3 racks and within, I'd say a hour to a hour and a half we all where sick. Note, this is the first and only time this has happened to me with any meat from Sam's. I called them the next day and they refunded my money, no questions asked. I've probably bought a couple thousands of pounds of meat from Sam's just this year (because I have a BBQ business) and was sure glad this didn't happen to be meat for one of my customers.
 
I guess I need to chime in too. Beware of meats from Wally World also. I bought a big pork roast a couple of weeks ago, had it home in 20 minutes, opened the cryovac to prep the roast, and OH MY GOD!! The smell was horrid. They took it back but the girl at the customer "service" desk tried to act like it was my fault. She indicated that I must have gotten the roast from the cooler, spent a few hours wandering around the store, went shopping at other stores with the meat left in my truck, and had it uncooled for hours before getting it home. This is NOT the case. I have my Serve Safe food handlers certification and I know well how to handle meat so as not to poison my friends and family. Now, not only was I way behind on my cooking schedule, I got insulted by a wet-behind-the-ears punk that probably couldn't find her butt with both hands. Oh well...I guess it can happen no matter where you shop.
 
I guess I need to chime in too. Beware of meats from Wally World also. I bought a big pork roast a couple of weeks ago, had it home in 20 minutes, opened the cryovac to prep the roast, and OH MY GOD!! The smell was horrid. They took it back but the girl at the customer "service" desk tried to act like it was my fault. She indicated that I must have gotten the roast from the cooler, spent a few hours wandering around the store, went shopping at other stores with the meat left in my truck, and had it uncooled for hours before getting it home. This is NOT the case. I have my Serve Safe food handlers certification and I know well how to handle meat so as not to poison my friends and family. Now, not only was I way behind on my cooking schedule, I got insulted by a wet-behind-the-ears punk that probably couldn't find her butt with both hands. Oh well...I guess it can happen no matter where you shop.
Now that is unbelievable, if Kroger had of said something like that I would have gone ballistic.

I am pleased to report my ribs yesterday turned out great - once I had good racks!

We have a little local family store where I live, not as convenient as Publix and Kroger, but they are very well known for their meats. I think going forward I am just going to drive farther and get hopefully good meat each and every time.
 
We have Star Market here along with Pubix and Kroger.  They specialize in great meats...great prices too.  Have a end of the month Sale that is worth stocking the freezer too.

Kat
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Hot Threads

Clicky