U.S. Quality Grades
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Transcript of U.S. Quality Grades
U.S. Quality Grades
• Sex Class
• Maturity
• Marbling
• Firmness
Purpose of Grading
• Facilitate the marketing of meat
• To sort carcasses from a heterogeneous population into homogeneous groups
Sex Class DeterminationSteer vs Heifer
Trait Steer Heifer
Pizzle eye Present Absent
Semimembranosus Square shaped
Bean shaped
Secondary sex fat depot
Rough, grape-like
Smooth in appearance
USDA Beef Quality Grades
• Quality grades are an estimate of beef palatability
Beef Palatability
• Tenderness
• Juiciness
• Flavor
USDA Quality Grades• Grades of Youthful Carcasses (< 42 mos.)
Prime
Choice
Select
Standard
• Grades of Mature Carcasses (> 42 mos.)Commercial
Utility
Cutter
Canner
USDA Quality GradesBased on consideration of two general
factors:
1. Physiological Maturity• Skeletal Maturity
• Lean Maturity
2. Marbling (Intramuscular Fat)• Amount
• Distribution
USDA Beef Grades
• Maturity Scores:
– A Youngest
– B – C– D– E Oldest
USDA maturity and marbling scores
Marbling scores: (Highest to lowest)-Abundant -Moderately Abundant -Slightly Abundant -Moderate-Modest-Small-Slight-Practically Devoid -Devoid
Relationship between tenderness and USDA maturity scores
A B C D E
Maturity
Sh
ea
r F
orc
e V
alu
es
Physiological Maturity vs Chronological Maturity
• The physiological maturity of the carcass is an estimate of the actual chronological age of the animalUSDA Maturity Score Estimated chronological age
A 9 to 30 months
B 30 to 42 months
C 42 to 72 months
D 72 to 96 months
E 96 or more months
Physiological Maturity• Skeletal Maturity is determined by
evaluating the condition of the cartilage in the vertebral column, with heavy emphasis placed on the cartilaginous buttons at the end of the thoracic vertebra
• Lean maturity is determined by the color and firmness of the ribeye at the 12th 13th rib interface
Beef Skeletal MaturityMaturityMaturity
A00 0% 9 – 30
B00 10% 30 – 42
C00 35% 42 – 72
D00 70% 72 – 96
E00 90%
E100 100%
A00 0% 9 – 30
B00 10% 30 – 42
C00 35% 42 – 72
D00 70% 72 – 96
E00 90%
E100 100%
% Thoracic Ossification% Thoracic Ossification
Approximate Age (Months)Approximate Age (Months)
> 96
Skeletal Maturity:Skeletal Maturity:A00A00 B00B00 C00C00 D00D00 E00E00
Beef Skeletal Maturity
• Physiological Skeletal Ossification is only marginally related to chronological age of the live animal.
“A” and “B” Maturity Carcass Thoracic Chine Buttons
“A” and “B” Maturity Carcass Thoracic Chine Buttons
““A” MaturityA” Maturity
““B” MaturityB” Maturity
A B C D ESACRAL DISTINCT
SEPARATION
LUMBAR NO
OSSIFICATION
THORAIC NO
OSSIFICATION
Physiological Maturity of Lumbar Vertebrae of from carcasses with A40 and
A50 Overall Maturity Scores
A40 A50
A B C D ESACRAL DISTINCT
SEPARATION
FUSED
LUMBAR NO
OSSIFICATION
NEARLY
COMPLETELY
OSSIFIED
COMPLETELY
OSSIFIED
THORAIC NO
OSSIFICATION
SOME
OSSIFICATION
PARTIAL
OSSIFICATION
CONSID.
OSS.
OUTLINES
PLAINLY
VISIBLE
CONSID.
OSS.
OUTLINES
BARELY
VISIBLE
A B C D ERIBS SLIGHT
TENDENCY
TOWARDS
FLATNESS
SLIGHTLY
WIDE
AND
FLAT
TEXTURE FINE TENDS TO
BE FINE
SLIGHTLY COARSE
MOD.
COARSE
COARSE
COLOR OF LEAN
MOD.
LIGHT RED
SLIGHTLY
DARK
RED
MOD.
DARK
RED
DARK
RED
Skeletal Maturity
A B C D E
Sacral Distinct separation
Some separation
Fused Fused Fused
Lumbar No ossification
Partial ossification
Mostly ossified
Ossified Ossified
Thoracic* 0-10% 10-35% 35-70% 70-90% 90% +
*Average ossification of first three thoracic vertebra
“Buttons”
Spinous Spinous process of process of the Thoracic the Thoracic vertebra vertebra
Thoracic Thoracic vertebravertebra
Beef Quality Grades- Lean Maturity
Young Intermediate Mature
A00 B00 C00 D00 E00
Various Maturity of Beef Cattle
A-MaturityA-Maturity C-MaturityC-Maturity D-MaturityD-Maturity
Overall USDA Maturity
A-MaturityA-Maturity
Overall USDA Maturity
• Combine Skeletal & Lean– Average– If within 40 degrees- simple average– > 40 degrees- average the degrees then adjust
10 degrees toward bone– If average of Skeletal & Lean crosses C/B line,
& skeletal is C- it stays with the skeletal side– Overall maturity cannot differ more than 1 full
maturity from skeletal
USDA Quality-Marbling
• Marbling, or intramuscular fat flecks within the exposed ribeye area
• Usually the major factor determining quality grade
Flecks of fat within the encircled area
Marbling
Slight00 Small00 Modest00
Moderate00 Moderately Abundant00Slightly Abundant00
USDA Quality Grades
Quality Grade
Quality Grade
Click to add textClick to add text A B C EDAbundantAbundant
Mod. Abund.Mod. Abund.
Sl. Abund.Sl. Abund.
ModerateModerate
ModestModest
SmallSmall
SlightSlight
TracesTraces
Pract. Dev.Pract. Dev.
Marbling
Maturity
Prime
Choice
Select
Standard
Commercial
Utility
Click to add textClick to add text A B C EDAbundantAbundant
Mod. Abund.Mod. Abund.
Sl. Abund.Sl. Abund.
ModerateModerate
ModestModest
SmallSmall
SlightSlight
TracesTraces
Pract. Dev.Pract. Dev.
Marbling
Maturity
Prime
Choice
Select
Standard
Commercial
Utility
Overall USDA Maturity
• Determining Final Quality Grade– A maturity overall- Marbling determines
Quality grade– It takes a greater amount of marbling to
compensate for added maturity to receive same Quality grade
– Overall maturity should be adjusted back to respective Maturity 00 also creating an adjusted marbling score
Overall USDA Maturity• Determining Final Quality Grade
– Special rule- 1997- B maturity overall with SM or SL marbling = High Std
– Everything else adjusted back to respective Maturity 00
C D E
MD SLAB MAB
MT MD SLAB
SM MT MD
SL SM MT
TR SL SM
PD TR SL
USDA Yield Grades
Beef Yield Grades
• USDA Yield Grades predict the percentage of carcass weight in boneless, closely trimmed retail cuts from the round, loin, rib and chuck
• Lean : Fat + Bone
USDA Yield Grades
Yield/Cutability estimates are determined using four criteria– Hot Carcass Weight, lbs– Adjusted Fat Thickness, in.– Ribeye Area, in2
– % KPH
History
• USDA developed the cutability equation but it was not used because it was hard to sort carcasses based on percentage cutability.
• So, they developed the equation to estimate yield grade and used those grades (1,2,3,4,5) to sort carcasses
USDA Yield Grade
USDA YG %BCTRC
1
2
3
4
5
52.3 % or More
52.3 - 50.0%
50.0 - 47.7%
47.7 - 45.4%
45.4% or Less
%BCTRC =51.34 – 5.784(Adj.Fat) – 0.462(KPH) + 0.740(REA) – 0.0093(HCW)
USDA YG =2.5 + 2.5(Adj.Fat) + 0.2(KPH) - 0.32(REA) + 0.0038(HCW)
USDA Yield Grade
• First- First- We Will Use the 3-Step Short-Cut Method to determine USDA Yield Grade
• 4 parameters utilized in beef yield grades
– HCW– REA– Adj. Fat Thickness– % KPH
USDA Yield Grade
Step 1- Determine Preliminary YG (PYG)
PYG= 2.0 + 0.25 YG for every 0.1” of fat
NOTE: Report all PYG to the nearest tenth of a PYG- round up
Example- 0.3”= PYG- 2.75
2.75= 2.8
Fat Thickness PYG
0.0 2.0
0.1 2.25
0.2 2.5
0.3 2.75
0.4 3.0
0.5 3.25
0.6 3.5
0.7 3.75
0.8 4.0
0.9 4.25
1.0 4.5
1.1 4.75
1.2 5.0
USDA Yield GradeStep 2- Determine Ribeye
(REA) adjustment/ Hot Carcass Wt (HCW)
IF INBETWEEN WTS- USE 9-8-8 Rule
EXAMPLE- 608 lbs needs 11.0; 609 lbs needs 11.1
616 lbs needs 11.1; 617 lbs needs 11.2
Carcass Wt Req. REA
550 10.4
575 10.7
600 11.0
625 11.3
650 11.6
675 11.9
700 12.3
725 12.5
750 12.8
775 13.1
800 13.4
825 13.7
850 14.0
875 14.3
900 14.6
925 14.9
950 15.2
USDA Yield GradeStep 2- Continued- Determine
Ribeye (REA) adjustment/ Hot Carcass Wt (HCW)
Req. REA- Actual REA =Adj. Factor
3
ONLY Tenths of a YG Adjustment
Actual > Req. = Subtract Adj Factor
Req. > Actual= Add Adj Factor
Carcass Wt Req. REA
550 10.4
575 10.7
600 11.0
625 11.3
650 11.6
675 11.9
700 12.3
725 12.5
750 12.8
775 13.1
800 13.4
825 13.7
850 14.0
875 14.3
900 14.6
925 14.9
950 15.2
USDA Yield GradeStep 2- Example
717 lb carcass needs 12.4 in REA
Actual REA- 15.3
12.4 – 15.3 = .966
3
Adj Factor= -1.0
Carcass Wt Req. REA
550 10.4
575 10.7
600 11.0
625 11.3
650 11.6
675 11.9
700 12.3
725 12.5
750 12.8
775 13.1
800 13.4
825 13.7
850 14.0
875 14.3
900 14.6
925 14.9
950 15.2
USDA Yield GradeStep 3- % Kidney, Pelvic and Heart
Fat
Base = 3.5% +/- .5%= +/- 0.1 YG
% KPH YG ADJ
5.0 +.3
4.5 +.2
4.0 +.1
3.5 0.0
3.0 -.1
2.5 -.2
2.0 -.3
1.5 -.4
1.0 -.5
0.5 -.6
USDA Yield Grade Calculation
• Fat thickness = 0.5 in PYG=3.25 ≈ 3.3• HCW = 750 lb- Req. REA- 12.8• Actual REA- 14.1• 12.8 – 14.1 = -.433 = Adj Factor= -.4 3• 2.5% KPH= -.2• Final YG= 2.7
– For this class, all yield grades are calculated to the nearest 0.1 yield grade (range: 1.0-5.9) with no rounding
USDA Yield Grade• Next- Next-
We Will Use the 4-Step Method to determine USDA Yield Grade
• Again, 4 parameters utilized in beef yield grades
– HCW– REA– Adj. Fat Thickness– % KPH-Main difference between 3 and 4-step method
is in the 4-step method HCW and REA are not combined, accounting for the extra step.
USDA Yield Grade
Step 1- Determine Preliminary YG (PYG)
PYG= 2.0 + 0.25 YG for every 0.1” of fat
NOTE: Report all PYG to the nearest tenth of a PYG- round up
Example- 0.3”= PYG- 2.75
2.75= 2.8
Fat Thickness PYG
0.0 2.0
0.1 2.25
0.2 2.5
0.3 2.75
0.4 3.0
0.5 3.25
0.6 3.5
0.7 3.75
0.8 4.0
0.9 4.25
1.0 4.5
1.1 4.75
1.2 5.0
USDA Yield GradeStep 2- Determine weight
adjustment adjustment-Starts with a base of
600lbs and every increase in 25lbs is an increase in adjustment of 0.1
-Round on the 13-Ex- a carcass that weighs
762lbs needs to be adjusted +0.6, but a carcass that weighs 763lbs needs to be adjusted +0.7
Carcass Wt adjustment
550 -0.2
575 -0.1
600 0
625 +0.1
650 +0.2
675 +0.3
700 +0.4
725 +0.5
750 +0.6
775 +0.7
800 +0.8
825 +0.9
850 +1.0
875 +1.1
900 +1.2
925 +1.3
950 +1.4
USDA Yield GradeStep 3- Determine ribeye
(REA) adjustment adjustment
-Starts with a base of 11 square inches, and every increase in 1inch is an increase in adjustment of 0.3
-Easiest to call ribeyes on a “3-7-0” system. (all ribeyes end in .3, .7 or .0 as seen in the chart ---------------------------_
Ribeye area adjustment
10.7 +0.1
11.0 0
11.3 -.01
11.7 -0.2
12.0 -0.3
12.3 -0.4
12.7 -0.5
13.0 -0.6
13.3 -0.7
13.7 -0.8
14.0 -0.9
14.3 -1.0
14.7 -1.1
15.0 -1.2
15.3 -1.3
15.7 -1.4
16.0 -1.5
USDA Yield GradeStep 4- % Kidney, Pelvic and Heart
Fat
Base = 3.5% +/- .5%= +/- 0.1 YG
% KPH YG ADJ
5.0 +.3
4.5 +.2
4.0 +.1
3.5 0.0
3.0 -.1
2.5 -.2
2.0 -.3
1.5 -.4
1.0 -.5
0.5 -.6
USDA Yield Grade Calculation
• Fat thickness = 0.5 in PYG=3.25 ≈ 3.3• HCW = 750 lb- +0.6• REA- 14.1• 14.1-11.0=3.1X0.3=-0.9• 2.5% KPH= -.2• Final YG= 2.8
– For this class, all yield grades are calculated to the nearest 0.1 yield grade (range: 1.0-5.9) with no rounding