Freezers across Texas and Florida are getting a second look this month. On August 7, the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service confirmed that Corte Argentino, a Miami-area importer, pulled nearly 30,000 pounds of raw beef brought into the country without the required import reinspection.
The notice names five boneless cuts: top sirloin butt, eye round, topside cap off, flat, and knuckle, all carrying the Frigorifico Gorina brand and use-or-freeze-by dates between September 15 and September 20. No illnesses have been tied to the recall so far, and FSIS has not disclosed which retailers carried the product.
That gap in the story is doing its own kind of damage. Shoppers who don’t know whether their grocer was on the distribution list are left to check labels for an Argentine establishment number most people have never had reason to notice.
The recall lands in an already tense beef market
Corte Argentino’s beef entered the country under a trade arrangement President Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei signed roughly a year earlier, meant to widen import volume and ease record-high beef prices. Ranching groups, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, pushed back hard, warning the deal would squeeze domestic producers.
Agricultural economists were skeptical for a different reason. Argentina supplies only a sliver of U.S. beef imports, and the country’s herd can’t scale fast enough to offset a national cattle inventory sitting at its smallest since 1961, a shortage tied to years of drought and depressed cattle prices. A recall on top of that supply squeeze adds friction to a market that had little slack to begin with.
None of that changes what’s on the shelf. It just means shoppers weighing where to buy their next steak have more reason than usual to ask how a chain sources its beef.
Costco
Costco’s steaks consistently beat most standard big-box grocery chains due to its steady Prime inventory and high turnover.
Recent pricing bears that out. Costco’s USDA Prime boneless ribeye has run roughly $24 to $29 a pound, in the same range as Sam’s Club and well under the $35-a-pound Whole Foods commonly charges for the same grade.
Costco’s 2025 sustainability report also states the chain avoids sourcing beef from high-risk countries unless verified quality-control systems are already in place.
Publix
Publix built its meat case around a policy most chains skip: everything stays fresh, never frozen, with the company’s own meat cutters trimming and portioning cuts to order rather than shipping pre-packaged steaks from a central plant. That in-house step lets a shopper walk up and request an exact thickness or cut, something few grocers still offer at scale.
The chain’s GreenWise line adds another layer of documentation. Its Angus cattle are born and raised domestically, fed a fully vegetarian diet, and never given antibiotics or added hormones, standards Publix states outright rather than leaving to inference.
Beyond GreenWise, the company sources grass-fed beef through partners like Verde Farms and White Oak Pastures, giving shoppers a documented alternative to the standard Choice-grade case for a premium.
Whole Foods
Whole Foods requires fresh beef in its Meat department to meet more than 100 animal-welfare standards and be certified by an approved third-party program. G.A.P.
Animal Welfare Certified is one of those programs, alongside certifications such as Certified Humane and A Greener World. Every animal must also trace back to a specific farm or ranch, a traceability standard the company publishes rather than leaves to marketing copy.
Grass-fed labeling comes with its own bar: cattle raised on a fully vegetarian diet, with third-party grass-fed certification required by May 2026. In February, the chain adopted RaiseWell Certified, an independent verification standard covering animal care and sourcing integrity, in addition to its existing requirements. Shoppers who want a step further can find dry-aged steaks at the butcher counter, where staff will custom-cut and marinate to order.
Sam’s Club
Sam’s Club stocks USDA Choice as its baseline, but its Prime-grade offerings stand out precisely because so little beef qualifies for that label. Only about 2% to 5% of U.S. beef earns a Prime grade, and the chain’s ribeye is one of its most consistently stocked cuts at that top tier.
Its New York strip goes through a 21-day wet-aging process before butchers hand-trim and portion it, a step meant to deepen flavor rather than move volume.
Shoppers who want to control the final cut can still buy a whole loin or roast and portion it themselves, but aging and grading standards separate Sam’s Club’s case from a straightforward bulk warehouse model.
Wegmans
Wegmans sources its beef from more than 80 partner farms, all raising cattle on 100% grass without added hormones or antibiotics.
The chain’s dry-aged offerings and marinated ribeye and strip cuts round out a program built less around bulk pricing and more around a controlled supply chain.
H-E-B
Founded in 1905 and now running more than 440 Texas stores, H-E-B sells more Texas-raised beef than any other chain in the state, according to the company, with in-house butchers who will custom-cut orders on request.
Its case ranges from Tomahawk cuts to Wagyu, a wider spread than most regional grocers attempt.
Harris Teeter
Harris Teeter, part of the Kroger family, became the first U.S. retailer to sell USDA-certified tender beef in the early 2010s.
The chain’s North Carolina distribution centers keep product moving quickly to its roughly 250 stores across seven states and Washington, D.C.
Sprouts
Sprouts sells organic beef raised without antibiotics or hormones through a regenerative grazing program, alongside conventional Choice-grade cuts. The chain has expanded to more than 380 locations since 2002, built on a broader natural-foods positioning that extends into its meat counter.
The Fresh Market
The Fresh Market’s in-house butchers hand-cut USDA Prime beef daily, but only after aging it for a minimum of 14 days to build flavor and tenderness, a step most conventional grocers skip. The chain now operates more than 170 boutique-style locations built to resemble a farmer’s market.
