Looking at the label I see Dillons which is Kroger in my area.
Many years ago Mom used to buy Ground Beef from Kroger on sale and freeze some of it.
Some of the stuff she cooked with ground beef was great and some of it tasted very nasty/funky.
It took me forever to drag it out of her but finally found out the good meal came from fresh GB and the nasty meal came from the frozen meat.
At that time Kroger was grinding ice with their GB and I alway thought this practice may have been the culprit but I never found out as she stopped buying and freezing GB from Kroger and I never started the practice.
I've happily eaten meals from frozen GB from other sources but never again from Kroger.
When we don’t do our own we use theirs, fresh or frozen, we have never had anything close to what you described. I have no idea but I am pretty dang sure that they don’t use ice because we can see them doing the fresh?
Glad that's the case in your area.
I had a face palm moment late last night(early this morning) when I realized I'd forgotten to congratulate you on your find.
I was wanting to alert you in case your Dillon store grinds like the Kroger's near me. I wouldn't want you to make one good meal and invite friends or family over only to find what I've seen from Kroger.
At the Kroger's around me most grinding is done out of sight. The only grinding in sight is when you ask for an your choice of meat to be ground and there is one I wouldn't ask for that from since it's done out of sight.
I can tell the difference between the three Kroger's near me grind. I notice it when cooking hamburger helper type casseroles, chili, or spaghetti sauce. I don't have to drain fat off the 90/10 GB from the one nearest me. I drain less from the other two than I do from the other grocery chains near me. What's seen in the pan from the store near me looks more like water and mostly all evaporates! For what reason???