You heard, saw, or heard of a report on ABC news making allegations similar to what you report. (The allegations actually involved fish.)
Those allegations were false ... the entire situation was contrived by ABC News to harm Food Lion during a labour dispute.
Food Lion sued ABC News ... and won.
This whole drama played out about 15 years ago ... but what has entered the popular culture? "Food Lion sells bad meat". What should have entered the popular culture is "ABC News is a bunch of liars."
Incidentally, CBS and NBC are also liars; the former presented obvious forgeries as legitimate military documents, the latter fabricated a dishonest demonstration of exploding pickup-truck fuel tanks.
I couldn't agree with you more. I have, however, actually been to a Food Lion and it was quite filthy, the meat section wasn't appetizing either. That was about 10 years ago.