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Local grocery store was offering a deal on beef tenderloin. It's a big chain. I've gotten tenderloin from this chain many times before. I have processed dozens of tenderloins to turn them into steak and stew meat without issue. One of my pleasures in life is to enjoy some delicious steak tartare with the trimmings.

When I opened this package, there was a very strong smell of shit. I wasn't sure what to do. There was no obvious signs of spoilage. The meat had a good texture and looked fine. I thought maybe they just botched the slaughter of the animal and it wouldn't be a problem after cooking. I tried rinsing the tenderloin with water to clean any contamination that may have been on the outside and went ahead. By this point I had developed a tolerance to the smell and kept on going as normal. I decided not to have tartare and just cook up a steak instead. I put a good sear on it, and, erring on the side of caution, cooked it to medium rare.

One bite. I did what I could to mitigate contamination, to mitigate risk. I thought it was just on the side where the silverskin was, and obviously I removed the silverskin. But after cooking it, I could TASTE it. Gross. I took it back and got my money back for the whole tenderloin, but I'm rather disappointed. I was looking forward to some steak tartare.

I've done this dozen of times. I've never had a tenderloin like this. Lately when I opened 2 other roasts I noticed a strong smell of sulfur, but otherwise they ended up tasting fine. Anyone have an idea what might have gone wrong with the meat? How might avoid this in the future? Is this a growing problem with supermarket meat?