Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Unfortunately Trader Joe’s Traditional CARNITAS (Mexican roasted pork) went Missing In Action not long ago. Now as we all know Trader Joe’s products can go MIA. Many eventually come back as stock comes in.

Then a reader here reported left a Comment that the Carnitas Discontinued. My heart sank as I have loved that product ever since I had first tried it years ago. Its just the best roast pork cooked in a certain way one could never do yourself. So yesterday when I was at Trader Joe’s I tried to investigate. I spoke with a manager at the Front Desk who looked up the Carnitas on the computer. She told me something interesting which I thought I would pass along as it reveals a little bit not just about Trader Joe’s products but their suppliers they work with.

She showed me the Product page for the Carnitas. It says “Not Orderable” – meaning they did not actually discontinue it – however stores can not order it. The product page explained why: “supplier went out of business“. Yikes!

The page adds that they looking for new supplier for the item. Hopefully they will find one, eventually. But unfortunately for the time being we can’t buy Carnitas anymore at Trader Joe’s. I for one am quite Bummed as I loved it. I could even came up with a hack to make Cha Siu with the Roasted Pork.

Anyway if you don’t see something on the shelf, ask the Front Desk if they could check it for you as thats always the best way I’ve found to get actual info.