New Grocery Store

Mama

Queen of Cornbread
Site Supporter
Well, this is interesting......

Doug Rauch, former president of the Trader Joe’s chain, is planning to launch a new supermarket called The Daily Table next year in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. This store will specialize in preparing, repackaging and selling – at massively discounted prices – produce that has just passed its sell-by date.


“This is about trying to tackle a very large social challenge we have that is going to create a health care tsunami in cost if we don’t do something about it,” Rauch has stated of his new project. “I don’t regard Daily Table as the only solution – there are wonderful innovative ideas out there – but I certainly think it is part of and is an innovative approach to trying to find our way to a solution.”

His announcement comes after the recent release of The Dating Game, an investigation into the efficacy of the food date labeling system by the National Resources Defense Council and the Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic. This report aims to examine why up to 40% of food produced in the U.S. gets thrown away, while many impoverished citizens go hungry, and what steps can be taken to rectify the situation.

The date labeling system originally arose in the 1970s, when Americans began to produce less of their own food, but demanded that manufacturers provide them with information about how their produce was made. The dates were never designed to indicate the microbial safety of the product, but were instead supposed to suggest when the product would be at its peak in terms of freshness and flavor.


The only product that is currently subject to federal date labeling regulations is infant food formula, because its nutrient levels tend to decline after a certain date. Otherwise, the issue of whether to put a best-before date on food, the phrase used to describe this date (“Use By,” “Best Before,” or “Sell By”), and what these phrases mean, is a matter for each individual state and food manufacturer to decide. As a result, American consumers experience mass confusion over the issue, with 90% of them throwing away food at least occasionally because they assume that once its sell-by or best-before date has passed, the product is unsafe to eat.

Dana Gunders, staff scientist at the NRDC and co-author of The Dating Game, states: “The main thing to understand is that food-borne illness comes from contamination, not spoilage. A pathogen has to be on your food to begin with in order for you to get sick, and it has to grow to levels that will make you sick. Handling your food safely is more important than its age.” Some of the food-handling tips she recommends, as outlined in an infographic provided with the report, include storing each food item in an appropriate section of the refrigerator, never leaving the refrigerator door open for longer than is necessary, and never allowing large amounts of ice to build up inside it.

“As consumers, the most important thing we can do is handle our food safely,” Gunders concludes. “Both business and government can be partners in this by providing education, but also by helping to make our food dating system more intelligible. We need a reliable, coherent and uniform system of date labels that actually communicates what the dates are trying to convey.”


Emily Broad Leib, co-author of the report and and director of Harvard Food Law & Policy clinic, adds: “This is about quality, not safety. You can make your own decision about whether a food still has an edible quality that’s acceptable to you.”


Article from One Green Planet

I think it's a good idea...people with limited resources could really stretch their dollar. I know I've been known to buy things that have been marked down because of the expiration/sell by date. How do y'all feel about it?
 

Leni

New member
I saw that article also and think that it's a good idea. The sell by date is a guide for the stores, not for us. I buy discounted meats all the time. Never had a problem. In fact my girlfriend with the food radio show just did a piece on this sort of thing. Her position was that we are throwing away a lot of perfectly good food.
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
If I'm making a quick run to the grocery store to just pick up something to cook that same night, I'll sometimes get steak that has been marked down that day. Just for regular grocery shopping, I don't buy those things because I know that I'll be keeping it for a while before it's cooked.

I see people at Wal-Mart gathered around the big rack of bread and do-nuts that have been marked down, but I don't buy that stuff either.

"This store will specialize in preparing, repackaging and selling – at massively discounted prices – produce that has just passed its sell-by date."

So it sounds like they are going to take produce that has passed its date, cook it, package it, and sell it at a discount. Seems to me if you have limited resources, you are still better off buying the produce and cooking it yourself.

I did go to the link but couldn't tell where they were getting the produce. Maybe somehow they're getting it free. I just don't see how they can pay for the produce, cook it (I assume that's what "prepare" means.), re-package it, and sell it at "massively discounted prices". If they can, I guess it's a good idea, but I'm not convinced.
 

buzzard767

golfaknifeaholic
Gold Site Supporter
So it sounds like they are going to take produce that has passed its date, cook it, package it, and sell it at a discount. Seems to me if you have limited resources, you are still better off buying the produce and cooking it yourself.

I did go to the link but couldn't tell where they were getting the produce. Maybe somehow they're getting it free. I just don't see how they can pay for the produce, cook it (I assume that's what "prepare" means.), re-package it, and sell it at "massively discounted prices". If they can, I guess it's a good idea, but I'm not convinced.

Good observation. On the other hand, I have little doubt that the former President of Trader Joe's is going to come up with a bad business plan.
 
K

Kimchee

Guest
I suspect "preparing" means checking the product, removing "bad spots", trimming and inspecting.
I would be all over that store!
 

LADawg

New member
Back 7 years and more ago (we lived there for almost 30 years) when we still lived in Jackson, MS, I did my grocery shopping at Kroger’s and they had a section in the meat case where they had meat that was going out of date that day. A friend of mine called that the “Used Meat Department”. I always looked to see what they had. I never bought chicken and would only buy pork if I was going to cook it that day. I did buy beef on a regular basis and never had any problems with it.
Along the same line the Kroger stores had a meat case with a butcher behind it to serve you. I bought Beef Filets about every 10 days or two weeks. One day the butcher said “Wendell, I have about 4 or 5 nice filets that have turned a little dark on me and I can’t put them out in the meat counter. There’s nothing wrong with them. If you would like them I’ll make you a good deal.” He showed them to me and I bought them. He charged me something like $2.00 a pound for steaks that I had been buying for $18.00 a pound. What a DEAL! Oh, they were very good too……..
 

Cooksie

Well-known member
Site Supporter
Got curious:

"The Daily Table is a hybrid grocery store and restaurant, selling prepared foods, fruits and vegetables."

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/359261#ixzz2glusecVa

I read several articles that I didn't bookmark and learned some other stuff.

Mr. Rauch is pretty smart :D. He is getting the produce donated from local grocery stores who will get a tax write off for charitable donation.

He's only going to sell prepared foods and other perishables like produce and dairy products. He said 1 gallon of milk might be as low as $1.

I imagine shopping at his store will be kind of like going to the thrift store, which I love. Sometimes you get a steal of a deal, and sometimes there's just nothing there that you want.
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
I think it's a brilliant idea and I love the reasoning behind it!

I live in the area, and will check out the store when it opens.

Thanks for the post, Mama!

Lee
 
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