The 6 Grocery Chains With The Worst Meat Departments

Something's been cooking in the world of grocery store meat departments lately, and no, it isn't a juicy ribeye or tender filet. The stores we know and love have been dropping the ball on the price and quality we used to rely on, leading customers to scope out the once-trustworthy meat aisle with a more scrutinizing eye.

Of any grocery store department, the one that should be held to the highest standard is the butcher's domain. Beef, poultry, and pork are some of the biggest offenders when it comes to foodborne illness, so ignoring expiration dates, funky smells, and discoloration is a risk never worth taking. We place a lot of trust in the way a store handles its meat, since we can't see what happens behind the scenes. It's easy to assume every chain supermarket has our health and safety in mind when they prepare products for the sales floor, but we're starting to learn that this isn't always the case.

In this list, we'll rattle off the prime suspects for sketchy meat departments around the U.S. These chains are guilty of leaving old meat out for sale, jacking up prices, or even such dubious, deceitful behavior as changing expiry dates or mislabeling meat grades. So scope out this list to see if your favorite supermarket is a top offender — if it is, it might be time to get friendly with your local butcher.

If you live outside one of the mere six Northeastern states that Stop & Shop calls home, there's a chance you never heard of the company. It doesn't exactly have an illustrious reputation. The store tends to leave a lasting bad impression among customers in all regards, with its house-brand products consistently ranking last in our taste tests.

In the summer of 2025, Stop & Shop fell under fire when customers began complaining about spoiled meat being sold in some New Jersey stores. An investigation was conducted, and, according to NJ.com, "Investigators said they found some products were labeled with the display date instead of the packaging date. Other products had extended expiration ranges that exceeded wholesaler recommendations." Incorrect expiration dates can have devastating consequences on health, especially when it comes to things like ground beef, which is the type of beef that expires the fastest. It can be difficult to tell by smell and color alone if meat is spoiled, so consumers rely on accurate labels. Stop & Shop completely dropped the ball here, sacrificing customer trust.

If incorrect expiration dates weren't enough to get your sketchy senses tingling, some Reddit users note perishables — like meat and dairy — left out of refrigeration at Connecticut Stop & Shops. One Redditor claimed they investigated the meat products sitting on pallets in the aisle and found them warm to the touch. They also chimed in about the questionable expiry dates, with one customer explaining that they took chicken sausage home with a safe date, only to find it spoiled when they opened the package.

Good ol' Walmart — some people swear by the big-box store for everything from pantry staples to car parts, and others have absolutely zero faith in the chain that's all but taken over the country. As far as food products from Walmart go, the store has maintained a solid middle-of-the-road reputation for years. But now, the relative confidence shoppers once had has taken a nosedive.

Walmart is getting heat for overpriced meat, and we have but one cost-conscious shopper to thank for blowing the whistle on Walmart's misdeeds. Jimmy Wrigg of Atlanta, Georgia, visited Walmart locations around his area in January of 2026 with one specific goal: to weigh meat and post the results on TikTok. What he found was blatant proof of highway robbery. A significant amount of meat products at Walmart were grossly mislabeled, with some weights off by as much as double. For example, one package of chicken labeled 4.66 pounds actually clocked in at 2.37 pounds, making the poultry overpriced by a whopping $9.44. At the time of writing, there has yet to be any legal action taken against Walmart. But if the big chain has to pay out the big bucks for its deceitful pricing, we can thank Wiggs for showing corporations that they don't make the rules.

On top of Walmart's heinous pricing tactics, Reddit users show off gnarly, discolored meat at their local Walmarts. One employee claims meat is rarely rotated, resulting in spoiled food left out on shelves for unsuspecting customers to grab.

Like the average grocery store, Trader Joe's has some decent meats worth buying and others to avoid. In truth, the quality of meat here is never really an issue with customers. They applaud tender filets, juicy sausages, and top-tier ribeyes perfect for any barbecue. Trader Joe's hasn't committed any meat crimes like those of Walmart and Stop & Shop, but it's guilty of the one thing every recession-era shopper knows can write off a supermarket for good: high prices.

We know some Trader Joe's shoppers will be offended to see the store near and dear to their hearts on this list. However, according to some TJ's customers dishing about its meat department online, real fans of the chain know to skip past the meat aisle altogether. One comment on a Reddit post venting about a fatty, $21 per-pound New York strip addresses the original poster: " ...you don't buy meat from TJ's, bud. Everyone knows that." The commenter adds that meat is the only department that's a total flop.

Other comments remark that, for the price of one TJ's steak, they could scoop up multiple steaks at Costco of the same — or even superior — quality. At the risk of being accosted by Hawaiian shirt-wearing, torch and pitchfork-wielding fans of the cult store: In the age of rising chains like Aldi and Costco, it just isn't worth it to pay inflated prices at Trader Joe's.

Target is another one-stop shop for everything from furniture to condiments, but with generally higher prices than Walmart, also known as "the Target tax." But is paying more to avoid Walmart worth it when it comes to groceries? For most things — probably. But when it comes to beef, chicken, and pork, both chains miss the mark entirely.

Unlike Walmart and most popular chain grocers around the U.S., Target doesn't have a dedicated meat counter. That means there's no access to knowledgeable staff who know meat inside and out (literally and figuratively) or anywhere to request specific fresh cuts. Since all meat is shipped to the store already packaged, having sat on a truck for who knows how long before it made its way to the shelf, it's best to avoid Target if you're shopping for quality meat.

Even if quality isn't a major factor at play when you're shopping for meat, price likely is. Target falls flat in this regard, too, with prices that don't come close to reflecting the quality of the cuts. Redditors claim that Walmart's meat quality surpasses Target's (which is really saying something) and that they've only ever had mediocre experiences with Target's meat, at best. Customers on Facebook rehash their experiences finding spoiled meat left out on shelves. In the thread, they remind each other to expect this type of thing from a store that doesn't specialize in food or have an in-house butcher.

If you're from the Southeastern U.S., you might be surprised to see tried-and-true Publix on this list. The chain has a generally positive reputation for a clean environment and high-quality groceries — it even placed fairly high on our ranking of grocery store meats. But lately, shoppers say Publix has lost its prime status, especially in the meat aisle.

Unlike some grocery stores, Publix cuts and packages most of its meat fresh in-house (although there's talk that the store's butcher counters might be on the chopping block), so elevated prices are expected, to a degree. But customers say that the store has completely gone off the deep end in terms of pricing. A Redditor posted a photo of a particularly lean, choice ribeye to the tune of nearly $20 a pound at their local Publix, and comments agree that things have gotten way out of hand at their once-favorite grocer. Other shoppers say they buy everything but meat from Publix due to inflated prices, making an extra stop at Costco for beef, poultry, and pork.

One infamous post on the Publix subreddit features an employee blowing the whistle on meat that isn't just overpriced — it's straight-up grey. Customers also complain about tough, cartilage-ridden chicken, and some chicken products labeled "never frozen," even though they'd clearly been plunged in the icebox at one point in time. Commenters mention that they're happy to turn their backs on Publix if low quality and outlandish prices continue.

We'll admit that there are a few things Sam's Club does better than Costco, but at the end of the day, there's a reason why one of the two warehouse club stores reigns supreme. Most bulk shoppers prefer Costco's meat department over Sam's Club's, and once you dive deep into the less-popular members-only store, it's easy to see why. Those who've shopped at both stores claim Costco's meat is butchershop quality, while Sam's Club's is almost indistinguishable from Walmart's beef, chicken, and pork offerings.

A Sam's shopper posted detailed photos on the store's subreddit showing an older label barely hidden behind a new label on a package of T-bone steaks. The new label showed the expiry date had been extended, and almost ¼ pound had been tacked onto the labeled weight — that makes Sam's Club a double offender of egregious meat department crimes.

Scratch that — it's a triple offender: Customers also say they've received blatantly spoiled meat from Sam's, even though the products weren't set to expire yet. But in the store's defense, these customers received their meat for delivery. The rancidness could have been the fault of the delivery person leaving the items out of refrigeration for too long, and not a product of negligence on the store's part. However, an ex-Sam's employee said on Reddit: "The meat at my club is almost always rotten or spoiled. I will never purchase produce or meat from Sam's after working there." We'll let you put the pieces together and decide if the low prices and bulk options are worth the gamble.