USDA announces changes to U.S. beef grade standards
Staff Writer |
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced this week that it is updating the voluntary U.S. Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef.
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USDA said the update to the standards will provide companies using the USDA grading program with additional options – dentition or age documentation – to establish the maturity of animals and ensure that cattle 30 months old or less are included in the youngest maturity group recognized as “beef” (A maturity).
Skeletal and muscular evidence will still be used to determine maturity for those animals over 30 months of age.
This change for voluntary beef grading activities will be implemented on December 18, 2017.
Companies using the USDA voluntary grading program must do the following prior to Dec. 18, 2017:
1. Provide documentation to the AMS supervisor and graders describing how carcasses over 30 months of age are identified and segregated within the plant. AMS will review these procedures either during routine quality systems assessment (QSA) audits or during supervisory visits.
a. Plants with a QSA program (e.g., for export verification) will provide the applicable section from their quality manual that details this process.
b. Plants without a QSA program will document their process through a standard operating procedure or similar document.
2. Ensure that the AMS supervisor and graders are aware of how carcasses over 30 months of age are identified/marked. The carcasses must be identified in a manner that allows the AMS grader to easily see the identification when presented for grading.
On December 18, companies may offer carcasses only for initial quality and/or yield grading, USDA said, adding that no carcasses shall be presented for grading that were held as regrades from the previous week.
A beef industry working group composed of representatives from the cow-calf, feeder, and packer segments conservatively estimated that incorrect classification of carcasses cost the industry nearly $60 million annually.
Carcasses incorrectly classified were sold at an estimated discount of nearly $275/head. ■