Bacon packaging is distinctly dishonest.

[Buddyboy546]

Has anyone ever noticed how markedly different bacon packaging is here in Canada (and maybe elsewhere). Let me start with a story.

Over half a century ago I had a very elderly great aunt who had a reputation for being quite stingy. She had lots of money and lived well but when she shopped in her small town seaside resort in the south of England, well, lets just say she was very careful. One day she went into Sainsbury's, a major grocer there, and at the meat counter she asked the butcher to hold up a tray of sliced bacon so she could see it. When he held it closer for her to see, she said "Well, show me the other side of it. I'm paying for that too, am I not?" The fact of the matter is we all inspect bacon closely, the majority of us looking at how much fat versus how much lean meat is visible in the slices. The fat makes it really tasty, but we certainly don't want all or substantially all fat in our bacon.

Meat is usually presented in clear plastic, sealed packages, and sliced bacon is no exception. Unlike other sliced meat, for example packaged ham or salami, an internal, printed cardboard label completely obscures the rear while it folds over about one third of the front. neatly covering the face of the front rasher of bacon. Because of this arrangement, viewing the face of even one slice of bacon is made impossible. All that can be seen is the layered edges of the slices presented as a whole. The shopper can see roughly how many slices there are and how thick they are, but how fatty the actual content is remains obscured and unknown. This is clearly a deliberate ploy by the producers to keep the shopper in the dark about what the meat inside is really like. If not, I would like to hear another explanation. In that the practise is quite standard, I can only conclude that food retailers are in on the con, if not perhaps even the villains behind it. Is it they who demand this style of dishonest presentation, or is it the bacon producers? I bet it's the retail industry.

Why do we, the consumers, meekly accept this type of dishonesty? We would never buy other produce with our eyes shut, yet this is exactly what we do with sliced bacon. Other packaged food inside closed packaging are of a very standard product, very consistent, very predicatable. Such is not the case with bacon. Every purchase is a roll of the dice just how meaty or how fatty the contents of a package are. It's about time we created a stink at our retail stores. They may be treating us like fools but our quiet acceptance is proving this view of us as correct.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=bacon...%3B1993%3B1268

[Shwa Girl]

Welcome back.

Why do we, the consumers, meekly accept this type of dishonesty? We would never buy other produce with our eyes shut, yet this is exactly what we do with sliced bacon. Other packaged food inside closed packaging are of a very standard product, very consistent, very predicatable. Such is not the case with bacon. Every purchase is a roll of the dice just how meaty or how fatty the contents of a package are. It's about time we created a stink at our retail stores. They may be treating us like fools but our quiet acceptance is proving this view of us as correct.

True. They try to fool us and sell us inferior meats.

So we buy the better cuts of meat and poultry. But not at full price. We buy the pink sticker reduced meat and poultry, with less fat. But not at the high price. Just one solution

Oh yeah. We buy the lower fat turkey bacon too. At reduced prices.

[Midnightly]

i've seen a number of bacon packages that have a window in the back so you can see what the bacon looks like.. i imagine they have that type of packing to help support the bacon (like other meats are on a Styrofoam tray)

[GoJays]

I've been buying bacon for more years than I care to admit and I never feel as if I've been "conned."

[couponmummy]

I always look at the back of the bacon to see how much fat is on the bacon. I also check to see if it's a whole slice as opposed to fall apart slice when you pull it apart. I also check that the package is stiff without much air in it as opposed to full of air and very bendable package.

[Joe_]

I've noticed this as well, but I don't think there is any intentional deception being done by the manufacturer.

Pre-packaged bacon is done on an automated assembly line, wrapping thousands of packages of bacon per hour - I know there are employees to check the meat as it goes through the slicer, but I doubt employees go through each slice or even portion to turn it over to the better-looking side.

[thriftygranny]

I've been buying bacon for more years than I care to admit and I never feel as if I've been "conned."

You make me laugh!!

Don't know where you get your bacon Buddyboy but I always look in the "window in the back" to see how much fat is on the on the bacon, I don't think I know of many packages that don't have a window to look at on the back. sorry I can't support your bacon conspiracy!

[Natalka]

Nah, no conspiracy.

But, if it bothers you so much, get your bacon from a butcher shop where you can see the whole slab, watch it being sliced... but you'll be paying a lot more.

[Sunshyne1]

It's bacon! I don't care how it looks, what size it is, if it's thin or thick!

Bacon is good anyway you slice it! :0)

[snuffaluffagus]

Fatty bacon is pretty much the norm, especially coming from intensive factory farmed pork. I'm more concerned with the extra water pumped into it so that it shrivels down to almost nothing once fried...that's my idea of the real rip-off. And liquid smoke flavour?...ugh.

I'm a bacon snob . I'll initially pay much more for grass fed/free-range if available, and for the lean bacon that's dry-rubbed and smoked in a real smoke house.

[nicolthepickle]

This doesn't bother me at all actually. Not that I spend a lot of time thinking about it. My reaction is usually more like, "OoooooH, bacon's on sale, extra delicious breakfasts."

[Lyssia510]

I've honestly never even looked at bacon when I buy it, just grab it and go.
I've also never bought meat where you could see both sides of it, they always have the styrofoam backing so you can't see it.

[walkonby]

sorry buddyboy, I too have never had any trouble flipping our packages over and viewing the content of fat on the slices. The pet peeve I do have however is when I see packages in the flyers that appear to be an awesome sale price, until I read the fine print that the package is 350 or 375 gram size, I am accustomed to the 500 gram size.

[vesper]

I buy bacon
I eat bacon

I get what I want.

I'd marry a bacon farmers daughter if there was such a thing. Especially if they grew cheese to!

[hollyquaiscer]

I agree with walks, the only thing they try and fool us with is replacing a 500gram package with a 375 or 300 gram package and calling it a sale!!!