What is beef grading and why is it important?

What is beef grading and why is it important?

You’ve likely seen USDA grade listed on meat labels at the supermarket. You may also have heard about meat-grading systems from other countries.

What is beef grading? Who devised these systems? And why should you care about beef grading?

At Snake River Farms, we’ve been pioneering a better beef experience for decades. If you care about serving your family the best possible meat, read our breakdown of beef grading systems to get insight on how they translate to your plate. 

USDA Guidelines for Beef Grading 

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) created grade standards for beef as a kind of shared language between the domestic beef industry and consumers. The USDA grade shield on steaks and other meat cuts indicates a level of safety and quality that is generally uniform.

The USDA uses a combination of subjective characteristics and electronic instrument data to place all U.S. beef into eight categories, although the top three grades are the ones most commonly available in stores and restaurants. 

USDA beef grading placed quality American beef into three grades:

1. Prime – Abundant marbling from young, well-fed cattle, almost always sold to high-end restaurants, gourmet grocers and better butcher shops
   
   
2. Choice – Less marbling but still high-quality meat
   
   
3. Select – Uniform in quality but leaner than higher grades and the most common grade found in grocery stores

The other USDA grades are rarely found displayed in stores and are reserved for canned food and other processed products.

International Grades: Beef Marbling Score 

All Snake River Farms beef cuts are graded higher than USDA Prime. How do we manage to surpass these national guidelines? We use an internationally recognized system called the Beef Marbling Score.

Marbling refers to the amount of intramuscular fat interspersed among the muscle in any cut of meat which appear like the striations on a piece of marble. This kind of fat enhances the flavor, tenderness and juiciness of meat. It’s different from intermuscular fat, which occurs between the muscles. Those white hunks of fat are generally trimmed away, as they do not add to the eating experience.

Internationally and in countries such as Japan, a Beef Marbling Score (BMS) is assigned to a cut of beef depending on its amount of intramuscular fat, a sign of quality. BMS ranges on a scale of 1-12, with USDA Prime grade maxing out at 5, and Japanese Wagyu steak having the potential to go to the maximum score of 12.

Learn more about the different marble scores for Wagyu.

Snake River Farms Grading: A Cut Above

All the beef at Snake River Farms falls into four categories that we’ve developed by synthesizing the USDA and BMS systems.

1. USDA Choice – BMS of 2 to 3, great flavor and tenderness, above average steaks
   
   
2. USDA Prime – BMS of 4 to 5, includes only about 8-10% of all domestic beef
   
   
3. SRF Black® – American Wagyu beef with a BMS of 6 to 8, superior to USDA Prime
   
   
4. SRF Gold®  – American Wagyu beef with a BMS of 9+ that delivers a rich flavor and buttery texture