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Shopper accuses Woolworths of 'disgraceful' meat tactic

A shopper has accused Woolworths of utilising a “disgraceful” cost-saving tactic.

The woman claimed she was “ripped off” by the supermarket after buying a pack of grass fed beef from the Kogarah Woolworths, south of Sydney, on Friday.

Video of her removing the meat, which set her back $20, from its pack showed what she said was several separate cuts that had been packaged together.

“We decided to cook a nice piece of steak and instead [Woolworths] ripped us off,” the shopper wrote in a post to Facebook.

Two photos of Woolworths meat a customer thought was held by meat glue.
The meat seemed to pull apart piece-by-piece when the shopper opened the packet. Source:

“Talk about rip off. We’re talking about $40 - $50 a kilo.”

She speculated the reason for the bizarre packaging was the use of “meat glue”.

“Meat glue is where they glue all offcuts of meat to make it look like a piece of steak when it’s actually not, it’s offcuts,” she wrote.

“I have been a caterer for over 35 years and this is a disgrace and a rip off.”

A Woolworths spokesperson has denied the supermarket binds small bits of meat together to form larger cuts using meat glue.

“We pride ourselves on providing high quality meat cuts to our customers and we're disappointed to see this customer received one well below our usual standards,” they told Yahoo News Australia.

“We have apologised to the customer and have offered them a refund. Product quality is essential to our business and we’ll be following this up with our meat production partners.

“If our customers have any concerns about the quality of the meat they receive, we always encourage them to contact their local store to replace or refund the product.”

It’s not the first time a Woolworths customer has accused the supermarket of using meat glue, with another claiming it was used to hold a scotch fillet steak together late last year.

The “Australian Beef” went from holding perfect form in its plastic container, to falling apart into several pieces once it was heated on a fry pan, resembling mince meat.

A Woolworths spokesperson provided the same comment as the most recent case to Yahoo News Australia at the time, saying the cut of meat highlighted was “well below our usual standards”.

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