Choice is still high quality beef that has less marbling than Prime. Consumers are going to receive a delicious and juicy eating experience. Tender cuts are still great for grilling and other dry cooking methods, while less tender cuts are more suitable for a liquid added type of cooking.
Select is a uniform, leaner quality of beef. It still is tender and can provide pleasurable eating experiences, having less marbling Select beef is going to tend to be less juicy and tender than Prime or Select. Most often select cuts are either marinated or braised to achieve the most eating satisfaction.
Maturity or age is harder for the everyday consumer to see in the supermarket. This is taken into consideration when the USDA graders are grading the carcasses. Graders take the color of the ribeye in combination with the skeletal maturity to come up with this component of the quality grade. Any cattle that are graded Prime, Choice or Select are going to be young cattle who have not reached full maturity.
Quality grading is a voluntary service that is provided by the USDA and paid for by the processors and producers. The USDA has stamps that they use to identify what quality grade the carcass is.
Youthful carcasses will have cartilaginous caps on the thoracic vertebrae that are no more than half ossified, and the lumbar vertebrae will show evidence of cartilage or at least as red line present on the tips. Youthful carcasses are produced from cattle generally less than 24 months of age and no more than 30 months of age.
Carcasses showing more advanced ossification are considered to be mature and must be graded in one of the Canada D grades or as Canada E in the case of a bull. The grade criteria for these four grades are identical, with the only exception being degree of marbling. Carcasses must be youthful to be graded in these grades. This ensures a high level of tenderness in all four grades of high quality Canadian beef.
Muscling must range from good with some deficiencies, to excellent. The ribeye muscle must have a bright red colour and be firm in texture. There is a minimum external fat thickness of 2 millimetres required at the ribeye measurement site, and the external fat must be firm and white, or no more than slightly tinged with reddish or amber colour. These criteria are identical for all four grades. A carcass with youthful characteristics, bright red meat colour, and white fat with at least traces but less than slight marbling will be designated with CANADA A grade 2.
This strongly indicates that marbling is not a major influencer of beef quality. The American research found that "USDA quality grade does not sufficiently segregate carcasses for palatability differences, and thus a direct measurement of meat tenderness is needed to supplement USDA quality grades.
This differs from the United States where quality and yield grading are decoupled, and consequently there is no guarantee that both quality and yield assessments will be made of individual carcasses.
Canadian cattle producers wish to encourage a system where producers receive a higher payment for animals which yield more meat for each high quality grade.
The yield grades are not determined for any carcass graded in the B, D, or E grades. The carcass meat yield is predicted using a muscle score and fat score. To enable the grader to estimate the carcass meat yield quickly, a special ruler has been developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada which scores length and width of the ribeye and external fat thickness over the ribeye.
The Canada B2 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have yellow exterior fat. The Canada B3 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have deficient muscling. The Canada B4 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have dark coloured meat. The D grades are for mature carcasses and are normally referred to as cow or commercial grades. Also evaluate the color and shape of the ribs. Determine lean maturity by evaluating the color and texture of the lean in the ribeye exposed between the 12th and 13th ribs.
Evaluate the marbling in the ribeye and determine the marbling score. Determine lean firmness to ensure that the minimum degree of firmness specified for each maturity group is met. Table illustrating the minimum marbling score requirements for USDA quality grades within each final maturity group.
Carcasses with B, C, D, or E final maturity scores require an increasing amount of marbling as maturity increases to remain in the same quality grade. Carcasses having B final maturity scores with Small and Slight marbling must grade U. There is no U. Select grade for B maturity carcasses. Understanding USDA beef quality grades. In beef, yield grades estimate the amount of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from the high-value parts of the carcass—the round, loin, rib, and chuck.
However, they also show differences in the total yield of retail cuts. We expect a YG 1 carcass to have the highest percentage of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts, or higher cutability, while a YG 5 carcass would have the lowest percentage of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts, or the lowest cutability.
Yield Grade 1 denotes the highest yielding carcass and Yield Grade 5, the lowest. Expected percentage of boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from beef carcasses within the various yield grades.
Graders evaluate the amount of external fat at the 12th rib by measuring the thickness of fat three-fourths the length of the ribeye from the chine. They adjust this measurement to reflect unusual amounts of fat in other areas of the carcass. Only graders highly skilled in evaluating cutability of beef carcasses make these adjustments according to whether the measured fat thickness is representative of the fat coverage over the rest of the carcass.
The grader usually writes this weight on a tag or stamps it on the carcass. The amount of kidney, pelvic, and heart KPH fat is evaluated subjectively and is expressed as a percentage of the carcass weight this usually will be from 2 to 4 percent of carcass weight.
I buy Prime brisket at Costco, but the quality seems inconsistent. Sometimes the brisket appears to be from an older steer. The fat is hard, thick and white.
Whereas the better ones are softer, not so thick, and more interspersed and yellowish. Why is this? Who inspects Costco's beef supply? It was often called the third best. When you try to buy the T-bone steaks you are met with a label: "product of Mexico" and USDA shield is no where to be found. Is this a legal practice, or false advertising? If the later, who do I contact? My wife has diabetes and her doctor tells her not to eat any fat.
We have found a breed called American Blue that has no fat and claims to be more tender because of the finer and shorter muscle fibers, as well as having less colesterol than chicken. How can your antiquated grading system grade the health benefits of a breed like this. Steve - thanks for the comment.
Please email the name and location of the store, and we can look into this further. SupportService ams. Ken - thanks for the comment. The beef grading system applies a uniform grade standard to any breed based on the amount of marbling in the ribeye along with the maturity of the carcass. The marbling is related to the tenderness of the meat, with more marbling and a higher grade being more tender and flavorful.
Our grading system does not address health factors or nutritional values. Can retailers, restaurants or other end users use the stamp USDA Prime, Choice, etc on their menu or other new packages after the products are further processed?
Cleo Fu - thanks for the comment. Seems like a bunch of jerks complaining about the beef grading. It is not the government that decides what you eat, at least not now. The grading gives a person a way of knowing what to buy for their personnel preference. Some exercise would probably help you more than missing this occasional treat. Corn is as natural as grass and cattle actually prefer it. Enjoy your tasteless grass fed steak with a side order of corn.. There is no certification label on the package.
However, the beef is tough and rather tasteless -- not what the label name would imply. This has been going on for the last six years I have lived here. Another grocer, H. Are there prime and choice cuts on the same animal, or does prime come from a different animal entirely?
I have stopped ordering steaks at restaurants altogether because they're always tough and dry and the fat is like chewing rawhide. I always order rare or medium rare so my experience with steaks has nothing to do with overcooking. Beef products from ungraded carcasses should not bear the USDA quality grade shield. For meat products that are derived from beef carcasses that are graded but the products are mislabeled, enforcement actions can be taken by USDA under authority provided by law.
Information about meat products that are believed to not be properly labeled can be submitted to AskLPS ams. What do you do if you think your local grocery store is Miss grading Meats?
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