I'm working on a new recipe and needed a few slices of thick turkey as one of my ingredients. I went to a grocery store near my home and saw that they had turkey on sale for $6.99 lb. Whow! That would work perfectly. I told the girl how thick I wanted it sliced and she said to me "you know it's 16% meat" and walked away to fill my order. I looked at the woman standing next to me and said "what did she just say?" She repeated that the girl had said "you know it's 16% meat" and this was said as a statement, not a question. The woman said she had no idea what that meant and neither did I. I started looking for the girl that was waiting on me and when she showed me a slice to see if it was thick enough I ask if I had heard her correctly. She affirmed that I did. I then asked what was the other 84% of what I would be buying. She said "fillers" and held up the slice and pointed out a few little specks about the size of your little finger and stated that those specks were real meat, being turkey. FILLERS! I told her very quickly I refused to pay $6.99 for Fillers! This is supposed to be the top grocery store in Charlotte and this is their own store brand. How can they call a slice of 'stuff' from the deli 'meat' if it has only 16% meat and the rest fillers which when I asked what exactly was a filler I was told by-products!
So, if you buy deli meats, ask the clerk how much of it is real meat and how much is 'Filler' before buying. You can bet I will from now on.
