Deep Dive into Beef Grades

Snake River Farms has focused on creating better beef for over five decades. Our experience has produced a range of exceptional beef—ideal for any occasion, from weeknight dinners to special celebrations. Understanding our grading system helps you choose the best steak or roast for your next meal.

USDA Grades—The American Grading Standard

The beef grades you see at the butcher shop or grocery store fall under guidelines from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). These standards provide a common language between the domestic beef industry and consumers. The USDA grade on meat packages ensures a consistent level of quality.

The USDA grades evaluate factors that influence the quality and palatability of meat, including tenderness, juiciness, and flavor. Marbling—the streaks of intramuscular fat within the muscle—is one of the most important indicators of quality. Marbling directly affects the flavor, tenderness, and juiciness of beef. Other characteristics that influence grading include texture, lean color, and maturity (the age of the cattle).

While the USDA recognizes eight total grades, you’ll typically encounter the top three when shopping or dining out:

1. USDA Prime – The highest quality American beef with abundant marbling from well-fed cattle.
   
   
2. Choice – High-quality with moderate marbling.
   
   
3. Select – Uniform in quality but leaner than higher grades and what you’ll find in most grocery stores. 

Beef Marbling Score

At Snake River Farms, our beef exceeds USDA standards. To measure these higher levels of marbling and quality, we use the 12-point Beef Marbling Score (BMS)—a system used to evaluate the level of marbling within the meat.

All Snake River Farms American Wagyu beef grades are equal to or greater than USDA Prime. Our proprietary grading system aligns with the Beef Marbling Score as follows:

Our American Wagyu grades align with this scale as follows:

• SRF Silver® – BMS 5. Abundant marbling equivalent to USDA Prime.
• SRF Black® – BMS 6–8. Significantly more marbling than USDA Prime.
• SRF Gold® – BMS 9–10. Dramatically more marbling than USDA Prime.
• SRF Gold Plus™ – BMS 11–12. The highest marbling available from Snake River Farms.

Flavor Profiles — More Than a Grade

The Beef Marbling Score provides a clear indicator of quality: the higher the number, the more marbling—and the more flavorful, juicy, and tender the steak. But grading only tells part of the story.

All USDA-graded beef sold by Snake River Farms under our Double R Ranch brand is sourced from high-quality continental cattle breeds raised within our unique ranch-to-table system. As a result, our USDA Choice and Prime beef consistently outperform comparably graded products from other sources.

So how does Double R Ranch beef compare to Snake River Farms American Wagyu?
All SRF beef comes from a cross between high-quality continental breeds and purebred Wagyu cattle, producing a level of marbling and flavor that stands apart.

Unscientifically, most folks who try these two types of beef side to side, can tell you right away that SRF American Wagyu is unlike anything else they’ve tasted. While we feel the same, a recent study by the meat scientists at Texas Tech University identified exactly what makes American Wagyu beef different from domestic beef.

They compared USDA Prime and American Wagyu cuts using a trained panel of beef tasting experts. The results showed that American Wagyu beef has several key flavor differences from USDA Prime.

The four attributes of American Wagyu with the most statistically significant differences were:

1. Buttery - Sweet, dairy-like aromatic associated with natural butter.
   
2. Juiciness – The amount of juice released from the steak.
   
3. Umami – Flat, salty, somewhat brothy. Or more scientifically “The taste of glutamate, salts of amino acids and other molecules called nucleotides.”
   
4. Tenderness – The amount of force required to bite a piece of meat.

The study found the above attributes were consistently superior in American Wagyu beef.  If looking at a score card, these numbers, even when the BMS scores are similar with USDA Prime and SRF Silver, the flavor attributes and characteristics clearly separate American Wagyu from USDA Prime.

Separating science from the dinner table, we've found most people can easily taste these key differences and prefer the overall eating experience of American Wagyu. 

Different is not universally better. Some people prefer the flavor profile of USDA grades to American Wagyu or prefer the less marbled beef for other occasions. Ultimately, the grade of beef to purchase is a personal choice.

Summing It All Up

USDA and BMS grading are excellent ways to compare the level of marbling and overall quality of different beef types, however, in real world taste testing American Wagyu beef possesses tender buttery texture, unmatched juiciness and is rich in umami. 

Fans of Snake River Farms American Wagyu love and know the difference. The best way to learn your favorite grade is to try them for yourself. The difference between SRF American Wagyu and our USDA graded beef is best experienced at your dinner table to taste each grade's unique qualities.