What’s Your Beef – Prime, Choice or Select?
Infographic (click to see larger version) outlining the differences between USDA’s beef grades.
The USDA grade shields are highly regarded as symbols of safe, high-quality American beef. Quality grades are widely used as a “language” within the beef industry, making business transactions easier and providing a vital link to support rural America. Consumers, as well as those involved in the marketing of agricultural products, benefit from the greater efficiency permitted by the availability and application of grade standards.
Beef is evaluated by highly-skilled USDA meat graders using a subjective characteristic assessment process and electronic instruments to measure meat characteristics. These characteristics follow the official grade standards developed, maintained and interpreted by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service.
Beef is graded in two ways: quality grades for tenderness, juiciness and flavor; and yield grades for the amount of usable lean meat on the carcass. From a consumer standpoint, what do these quality beef grades mean?
Prime beef is produced from young, well-fed beef cattle. It has abundant marbling (the amount of fat interspersed with lean meat), and is generally sold in restaurants and hotels. Prime roasts and steaks are excellent for dry-heat cooking such as broiling, roasting or grilling.
Choice beef is high quality, but has less marbling than Prime. Choice roasts and steaks from the loin and rib will be very tender, juicy, and flavorful and are suited for dry-heat cooking. Many of the less tender cuts can also be cooked with dry heat if not overcooked. Such cuts will be most tender if braised, roasted or simmered with a small amount of liquid in a tightly covered pan.
Select beef is very uniform in quality and normally leaner than the higher grades. It is fairly tender, but, because it has less marbling, it may lack some of the juiciness and flavor of the higher grades. Only the tender cuts should be cooked with dry heat. Other cuts should be marinated before cooking or braised to obtain maximum tenderness and flavor.
Standard and Commercial grades of beef are frequently sold as ungraded or as store brand meat. Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades of beef are seldom, if ever, sold at retail but are used instead to make ground beef and processed products.
Recently, USDA collaborated with the United States Meat Export Federation and Colorado State University to develop an educational video about the beef grading process. This video provides a comprehensive overview of the beef grading system – from farm to table.
So next time you are at a restaurant or grocery store, look for the USDA grade shield and you will better be able to answer the question, “What’s your beef?”
Tags: AMS, beef, Food Preparation, grading, Standards
Thanks, Chief!!
very interesting and informative article. thanks.
Here is what is left out of this front piece for the status quo of beef production.
In addition to more “marbling” i.e., fat – these animals are dosed with antibiotics to keep their failing livers from killing them before slaughter.
80% of all the pharmaceuticals sold in the US goes into farm animals. BigPharma has you in it’s grip.
Beef cattle are herbivores, fitted by Nature to eat grass. But BigAg wants to feed the world the same diet that is killing Americans with Heart Disease and Diabetes, and etc.
Come clean USDA! Our beef production system is an anachronism. Up to 30% of all corn produced is fed to these animals.
We don’t have a Farm Policy, we have a Money Policy for the benefit of the Chemical Pharmaceutical cabal that owns the USDA and the FDA and your legislators.
How long will you stand for this atrocity America?
Pictures would be great here! Perhaps a few of the standard cuts and what it looks like on the shelf. I have to explain “marbling” every once in a while, it might be great to have some exaples. Also, there is often a difference between a cut of meat that has a lot of fat on it, vs a cut that has a lot of marbling.
I agree with Jerry. Cows are suppose to graze on grass not but forced fed with corn. It’s unnatural so the corn makes the cattle weigh more. The fill them with anti-bodies and that goes into our bodies when we eat the meat. All of this in the name of money. It’s a shame. We turn our back on the natural way things should be done in the name of money. It’s a crying shame.
Let’s start caring about the health of the people. America is at the bottom of the list of the top 20 richest countries and we have the shortest life span. This tell us all something.
good grief? Why is it that the obviously less educated people complain the most?
Capitalism will always win in America until we the people stand up against those in power who make the rules.
To Loretta and Jerry—the FDA as well as most Gvt agencies cannot come clean! They are too deeply imbedded in the crime!
Only the voter and the consumer can come clean! If you don’t like second hand hormones buy hormone free food. Grass fed beef is available, buy it! And for goodness sake stop voting for politicians who have sold out to industry.
Above all stop complaining, act!
Jerry – the only conspiracy involved in “finishing” cattle with corn is the conspiracy of consumer preference. People don’t like the flavor and quality of grass-fed beef. Well-marbled beef is more flavorful and tender, and well-marbled beef is grain-fed beef. That’s what consumers prefer. You can complain all you like about consumer preference (and you may be right about it), but there is no evil plot on the part of the USDA or “Big Ag”. They are just selling people what they want.
Thanks Pantrick, you’re partially right. We all have to work to make our government responsible but we can’t do it by ourselves. Personally I try to make responsible choice for myself and my family. At the same time we should make others aware of the problem too. Yes we should vote for politicians that are sensitive and responsive to our concerns. The problem is you need a magnifying glass to find them.