ROTTEN MEAT | M6 | 66 minutes

It is a scandal that was thought to be too old. Beef, chicken, sausages, rotten meats, repackaged, then put back on the shelves of our supermarkets. It’s called repacking. Making new with old is an illegal practice but it pays off big. Among butchers, too, it was believed that this time was over. Our hidden camera infiltration in a hypermarket in northern France demonstrates the opposite.

Cutting blackened parts, boning, spice blends to camouflage the taste and smell … Laurent Richier, ex-butcher for twenty-five years, denounces with his face uncovered a system that he considers “villainous”. With him, we will “repack” and not just a little: at home, to understand these techniques, then in sequence in a supermarket in his region where we will buy, thanks to his wise eye of questionable meats. These meats will then be tested in the laboratory. To support our demonstration, we will also infiltrate the butcher shop of a supermarket. An accomplice butcher agreed to show us in hidden camera what he is asked to “repack”, And not just a little: at home, to understand these techniques, then in sequence in a supermarket in his region where we will buy, thanks to his wise eye of questionable meats. These meats will then be tested in the laboratory. To support our demonstration, we will also infiltrate the butcher shop of a supermarket. An accomplice butcher agreed to show us in hidden camera what he is asked to “repack”, in order to “maximize the profits” of the supermarket. Faced with this scandal, what is the state’s response? On 31 January and 8 February 2023, we will follow a team from the Val d’Oise Departmental Directorate for the Protection of Populations during two days of control.