Five Grocery-Store Meats to Rethink, Say Butchers

Butchers say five grocery-store meat categories—ground beef and poultry, fresh fish and seafood, aged beef, bone-in cuts, and pâté/terrine and organ meats—often suffer from processing, aging, or storage issues that affect safety and flavor. They recommend buying these from specialty butchers who source carefully and handle grinding or aging in-house, or opting for well-handled frozen seafood when fresh isn’t trustworthy, even though prices can be higher.