Beef Carcass Grading: How USDA Prime, Choice and Select Were Built

What Is Beef Carcass Grading?

Beef carcass grading sorts carcasses into classes so that buyers can compare them without seeing every animal. In the United States it is a voluntary service run by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, and the rules are written in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef. Two separate systems apply: quality grades, which describe eating quality, and yield grades, which describe how much usable meat the carcass will give.

The grades were removed from the Code of Federal Regulations in 1998 and are now maintained by USDA AMS. The reprinted standards are effective December 18, 2017.

How Quality Grades Work

For steers, heifers and cows, the quality grades are Prime, Choice, Select, Standard, Commercial, Utility, Cutter and Canner. Cows cannot receive Prime. Young bulls, called bullocks, have a shorter list: Prime, Choice, Select, Standard and Utility. Bulls receive no quality grade, only a yield grade.

Two factors decide the quality grade: marbling and maturity. Marbling is graded in seven degrees, from slightly abundant, moderate, modest, small, slight and traces down to practically devoid. Prime requires slightly abundant marbling, and Select requires slight marbling. Choice requires small marbling for the youngest maturity group and modest for older groups. Maturity runs from A to E, youngest to oldest. Prime, Choice, Select and Standard are limited to young cattle.

How Yield Grades Work

Yield grades run from 1 to 5, with Yield Grade 1 having the highest cutability. The calculation uses external fat thickness, kidney, pelvic and heart fat, ribeye area and carcass weight. Graders normally ribbed carcasses between the 12th and 13th ribs before grading.

A quality-only grade, a yield-only grade, or a combined grade can be requested, a change made in 1989.

A Timeline of Changes

The standards changed many times. Official grades were promulgated in 1926, and voluntary grading began in 1927. Between 1939 and 1941 the grade terms for steer, heifer and cow beef were standardized into the Prime through Canner set. In 1950, Prime and Choice were combined into Prime and Good was renamed Choice. A Standard grade for young beef followed in 1956.

In 1965 the standards reduced the emphasis on maturity and added cutability grades. Separate quality grades for bullock beef came in 1973. A 1975 change, effective 1976, removed maturity as a factor for the youngest animals and removed conformation as a grade factor. Good was renamed Select in 1987. Instrument grading was approved for ribeye area, yield grade and marbling between 2001 and 2009, and in 2017 dentition and documented age were added as maturity determinations.

Grading and the Rise of Feedlots

The Living History Farm account of beef feedlots gives numbers on how fast grading spread. About 50 percent of interstate beef was graded in 1955, 78 percent of interstate red meat in 1960, and 96 percent by 1983. The account says the system favored grain-fed, marbled carcasses, which fit the products feedlots were built to deliver.

The connection to branded programs is direct. Certified Angus Beef, for one, built its identity on marbling, as told in the American Angus Association's history of the brand.

Rules That Shape a Grade

The standard includes details that explain why two carcasses that look alike can grade differently. Dark-cutting beef can lower the final grade by up to one full grade for Prime, Choice or Select, and by up to one half grade for Standard or Commercial. Alterations to the ribeye or fat covering that affect grading make a carcass ineligible.

Since 1980 grading has been restricted to the slaughter or initial chilling establishment, and a three-quarter inch maximum fat thickness was set for removing yield grade designations.

Learn More

For the full standard and its amendment history, read the USDA document directly. For stories from the cattle side of the business, visit the ranching section of farm.FM or read a farm.FM story about beef quality.