1.   A former administrator of the Food Safety and Inspection Service, Lester Crawford, said the USDA did not enforce laws against changing expiration dates on prepackaged meat.

2.   The companies won concessions that allow vendors to stock shelves, stores to sell more prepackaged meat, and managers to ask employees to work outside their job descriptions.

3.   The move stems from a pilot project in northeast Arkansas, where customers preferred prepackaged meat and poultry, the spokeswoman said.

4.   Prepackaged meat solves another pressing problem for grocery stores -- a shortage of butchers, according to Flickinger, the food-industry consultant in Westport, Conn.

5.   Wal-Mart has been planning the switch to prepackaged meat for months.