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Grading & Marbling Score

M

MrSym

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Dec 17, 2006
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This may seem like a dumb question for someone who has been in the retail industry for years. I know what a well marbled piece of beef looks like and how it feels in cutting it, yet I have never took the time to become more educated from the scientific viewpoint.

I had a customer ask me about Angus beef, and I told him that I was looking into another supplier that carried Angus (select - prime). He stated that he understood that there was no such thing as "prime angus". I was looking on Creekstone Premium Beef's website, that has angus prime listed.

I was looking for information that explains the "marbling score" in the grading process in more detail. I have been on the internet looking for this for 6 hours, and yet to find what I am looking for.

For example;
Grade / Marbling Score
Prime / 0-100
Choice / 0-100
Select / 0-100

1. Specifically what determines the Score for each grade?
2. Is this a score for each grade separately, or a 0-100 score for all grades?
3. Is this an objective score, or a scientifically measured score?
4. Is there website info/chart that easily illustrates this?
 
Here is a pictorial on marbling scores:

http://www.iowabeefcenter.org/Presentations/Standard%20Marbling%20Scores%20and%20Quality%20Grades/sld002.htm
 
1. Specifically what determines the Score for each grade?
2. Is this a score for each grade separately, or a 0-100 score for all grades?
3. Is this an objective score, or a scientifically measured score?
4. Is there website info/chart that easily illustrates this?

1. Marbling scores within a grade are from 0 to 100 and determines the amount of intramuscular fat within the ribeye muscle, such as Small 50 means 50% within the Low Choice grade.

2. Currently, to sell beef outside of the plant, it must be inspected by a USDA inspector and graded by a USDA grader, therefore the grade is determined by a human USDA grader. We always hope the grade is objective, but I know of too many instances that it is NOT!

The USDA is telling us that by sometime in the first quarter of next year, the RMS beef cam or the German version of the beef cam will be fully certified to machine grade carcasses.

I have received data from producers that gives carcass data generated by the camera. To say the least, it is still not perfect.........but neither are the USDA graders.

I think the industry is ready for a trully objective grading system, but I don't think we will have one, in the near future, that will not be without faults!
 
Excellent site Mike. Thanks.

Here is a little more information on grading. Also click on the highlighted links.
http://ars.sdstate.edu/AnimalEval/Beef/beefgrade.htm
 
GLA wrote:Currently, to sell beef outside of the plant, it must be inspected by a USDA inspector and graded by a USDA grader, therefore the grade is determined by a human USDA grader.
Click to expand...

Grading is voluntary under USDA guidelines. You are correct on the inspection, however.
 
Marbling is based on the amount of fat in the cut.

Originally when grades were first established, the piece of meat was actually boiled down and the fat content weighed.

Trained graders are still very close on their grades, it is the ones that lack experience that would be off.

They compared many carcasses that were graded by a trained grader and then using the boil the fat out method, the graders scored a very high percentage of accuracy.

Choice grade (AAA in Canada) starts at about 4% IMF (intramuscular fat) and prime (prime in Canada too) starts at somewhere around 9% IMF.

Angus Prime sounds like a branded product, check to see if it is a prime grade or just a name. There are something like 56 named beef programs, 30 give or take use Angus.
 
Following is information posted on
http://www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/certprog/beef/creekstone.htm
regarding the prime angus beef I was referring to:

Creekstone Farms Black Angus Beef
Live Animal Requirements - Schedule GLA, phenotype (51% black hair coat)
Carcass Requirements

1) Steers and Heifers
2) No dark cutters
3) Maximum hump height requirements (<2 in.)

Quality
a) US Prime, Choice, and Select
b) Marbling

1. Creekstone Farms Master Chef Black Angus Beef – Modest 00 or higher
2. Creekstone Farms Black Angus Beef Chef's Table, Choice – Small 00 to Small 99
3. Creekstone Farms Black Angus Beef Chef's Table, Select – Slight 00 to Slight 99

c) Medium or fine marbling texture
d) Overall A maturity

Yield
Minimum muscling requirements

USDA Information - Schedule G44, effective October 2005, USDA Certified
Click to expand...
 
MrSym, Looks like Creekstone has Prime, Choice, and Select grades of beef.

Very few steaks that are graded prime go to retail outlets. Most of it goes to restaurants, etc.

Most shoppers won't buy it off the shelf because it looks too fatty. Have eaten some prime before and I really didn't think it was that much better than a good choice steak.

Wish you well in your endeavors............................and hope you find what you need.
 
If a carcass is sold as USDA Choice or any other USDA grade lable....it has to be graded by a USDA grader........any other label other than USDA Choice, Select, etc can be a house grade such as Foreman's Choice, etc. and only has to be USDA inspected.
 
1. Creekstone Farms Master Chef Black Angus Beef – Modest 00 or higher

This is Average Choice to High Choice product, which is typical of Certified Angus Beef.

2. Creekstone Farms Black Angus Beef Chef's Table, Choice – Small 00 to Small 99

This is a Low Choice product

3. Creekstone Farms Black Angus Beef Chef's Table, Select – Slight 00 to Slight 99

This is a Select product
 
The mixing of grades with brands like the choice example given are pretty tricky. I don't think they should be allowed. That is my personal opinion. It happens with prime also.


Consumers have to look for USDA Choice or USDA Prime to get the real graded meat, not Brand X Prime, or Brand X Choice. Kinda tricky.

I would agree with you Mike on a good USDA Choice Steak although I have had one of my best steaks at Ruths Chris Steak house. That designation does become more important when you talk about the eye of round, the sirloin, and other cuts. Sometimes you get into low select and it isn't worth eating as a steak.
 
Sometimes you get into low select and it isn't worth eating as a steak.
Click to expand...

I harvested a calf a couple of years ago for my freezer that would have been graded "select". Not much marbling but tender as all get out.

Many of my family members and friends who ate it thought it was the best steak they had ever eaten.

Quality grades should include tenderness as a factor. Most consumers prefer it over all other attributes.
 
Mike said:
Sometimes you get into low select and it isn't worth eating as a steak.
Click to expand...

I harvested a calf a couple of years ago for my freezer that would have been graded "select". Not much marbling but tender as all get out.

Many of my family members and friends who ate it thought it was the best steak they had ever eaten.

Quality grades should include tenderness as a factor. Most consumers prefer it over all other attributes.
Click to expand...

Hey, I totally agree. The current system does not provide for that information on a non biased scale. It needs to be done. The tenderness factor is my main factor for determining my purchase. If I knew I could get the tenderness and palatability all in a lean piece of meat, I would be all for it. I hope we come up with a system to give people with better genetics like yours a better price. It is is worth it. Currently our system does not, unless you count CAB or something like that.

When dealing with boxed beef, you are out of luck. It is commodity beef.
 
Mr Sym,

Research has proven that there is only a 10% direct correlation between marbling and tenderness.

Due to a lack of a better means of measuring tenderness, due to a need for marbling as an insurance policy to prevent overcooking, and due to the political influence of breeds with adequate marbling such as Angus, all of these factors have played into the illusion that more marbling equals a better eating experience. The American Angus Association has done an excellent job of creating the illusion that Angus beef is better than other beef when recent Colorado State University research has proven that false.

A properly aged and properly cooked piece of "select" beef will consistantly create a better eating experience than a non aged and not properly prepared piece of "choice" beef.

Aging and preperation is where it's at, not marbling. Keep in mind that there is only one fleck of marbling difference between a steak that will grade high select and a steak that will grade low choice. Most consumers prefer high select and low choice amounts of marbling when given a choice. PM BEEF designed their program around consumer preferences instead of shaping consumer preferences around certain breeds of cattle. PM BEEF settled on a "high select" / "low choice" product as their target based on consumer preferences which ironically was below the standards of Certified Angus Beef.

Even Certified Angus Beef is a hoax because the animal only has to have a black hide and be in the upper 2/3 of choice grade to qualify which means that a black 7/8 blood simmental or gelbveih will qualify for CAB as long as they end up in the upper 2/4 of the marbling grade.

Colorado State University did a side by side "Pepsi Challenge" type of taste test between Certified Hereford Beef and Certified Angus Beef. Certified Hereford Beef beat Certified Angus Beef in all four categories of flavor, tenderness, palatability, and one other category I cannot remember. The interesting thing between the two is that Certified Hereford Beef allows select in their mix while Certified Angus Beef is the upper 2/3 of choice grade.
Our grading system of only measuring marbling amounts is a joke from the standpoint of determining which factors lead to a quality eating experience. Proper aging and preperation is where it's at, not marbling and that is backed with research.

A few years back there was a Beef Checkoff funded study that showed a high degree of overlap between select and choice in regards to a quality eating experience. In other words, there was a lot of high quality select steaks and there was a lot of poor quality choice steaks.

My bias? I raise black angus / simmental cross cows but I can't deny the research that proves that marbling has very little to do with a quality eating experience.

If you age and cook a choice steak properly, it has a 10% advantage over select according to the research on tenderness. There is more than enough marbling in Select beef for adequate flavor.

Select beef can be aged at refrigerator type temperatures in cryovac sealed packages for 14 days which will greatly enhance tenderness. From that point, the beef should assume room temperature prior to cooking then cooked at the proper temperature for the proper amount of time to ensure a quality eating experience.

Once again, according to the research, there is only a 10% direct correlation between marbling and tenderness.


~SH~
 
For the most part, customers want the beef they buy to look totally lean, having the least amount visible fat or marbling possible, but they want it to eat like prime. Customers will often ask for me to order prime or natural beef. Then, when they see the price, they look at me as if I were a crook.

We were selling the Black Canyon Angus Beef (Select), and had good success with it, but am having to change to another supplier. I was considering the Creekstone Farms program because it is offered by a supplier that services my area (Nortwest Georgia). I just want to make sure it is a good program before making a switch. It seems that the prices were decent for what seems like a good program. I just want to check it out first.

I have experimented with some other premium beef items. One I tried was Strube Ranch Wagyu (Kobe style) beef. My wife and I tried the Wagyu beef twice form two different cuts. Each time the Black Canyon Select beef had better flavor and was more tender, and much cheaper. I tried Painted Hills Natural (Choice). It was well marbled, and very tender, but the flavor was very bland.

I just want to settle on a good solid program, and not switch around too much, in fear of losing customers due to inconsistency.

I thought the following article was interesting concerning tenderness.

Creekstone Farms receives USDA's first Tender Beef designation

Cheryl Rainford
Agriculture Online News Editor

5/18/2005, 12:51 AM CDT

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef LLC said Tuesday it is the first beef processor in the US to receive USDA's process verification designation for Tender Beef. The process verification was approved under the audit, review and compliance branch of USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.
Click to expand...

The full article is here:
http://www.agriculture.com/ag/story.../data/agNews_050518crTENDER.xml&catref=ag1001
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Survey responses of panelist's consumption and eating preferences are presented in Table 2. Seventy-five percent of the consumers in the sample population were the primary shopper of the household. Fifty-eight percent of panelists reported consuming beef as a portion of an evening meal three or more meals per week. Fewer consumers reported consuming pork (5%) and poultry (31%) as a portion of an evening meal three or more times each week. A small percentage (9%) of consumers reported consuming a vegetarian evening meal three or more times each week. A majority (93%) of panelists reported eating an evening meal outside of the home at least once per week. Fifty-two percent of the consumers in the sample population listed tenderness as the most important sensory attribute when purchasing beef, whereas 38% of consumers considered flavor and 11% of consumers considered juiciness, as most important. These results are remarkably similar to consumer survey responses reported by Huffman et al. (1996), where 51% of consumers listed tenderness, 39% of consumers listed flavor, and 10% of consumers listed juiciness as the most important beef sensory attribute when determining their eating satisfaction in a home or restaurant environment. "
 
Say Porker and Tulon, how about this;
Colorado State University did a side by side "Pepsi Challenge" type of taste test between Certified Hereford Beef and Certified Angus Beef. Certified Hereford Beef beat Certified Angus Beef in all four categories of flavor, tenderness, palatability, and one other category I cannot remember. The interesting thing between the two is that Certified Hereford Beef allows select in their mix while Certified Angus Beef is the upper 2/3 of choice grade.
 
So, where is all this discussion going? I read lots of statements about Select beef and tenderness........do they always go together? I don't think so. If you are going to compare steaks, then they BOTH need to be properly aged and prepared the SAME.

I continually hear EXPERTS saying Select beef is just as good as Choice, but that is not what the 2005 beef audit displayed. Is everyone trying to convince us to settle for average beef which I call a Select product?

Mr Sym, if I had my choice (pun) and were selling beef to the public, I would select a company who provides a USDA Choice product and not one who uses their in house branded product......unless the branded product is USDA graded....first!!

A couple of summers ago a friend and myself cooked over 1800 ribeye steaks, during the entire summer for different groups and business people. All of the steaks were from Sam's Club, they were all USDA Choice steaks cut 1.25 inches thick, were fresh and never frozen, dry marinated and cooked over direct heat heat on my charcoal and wood grill. Not one and I repeat not one person ever complained about the tenderness of the steak, flavor or juiceness, but rather raved about the taste and tenderness of the steaks. From that summer we have had repeat business from the same groups for the same steak dinners. I have cooked the same steaks for all kinds of people from Houston, Texas to Flamming Groge, Utah for more than 20 years.......I know what works!!

Mr. Sym, if I were you I would try your local Sam's Club meat counter and specify what I wanted and just see how you make out. I think you will be pleased with the results and you can even haggle on the price.

You will be getting commodity beef, but it is easy to find and nearly always open and you have lots of options to choose from. It will be fresh, never frozen and you can get it cut just as you like. Vaccum pack it and let it age at your business and then cook and serve it as you wish. I am not a fan of Wal-Mart, but in this instance....it can't hurt.

Let me know how you make out.

GLA
 
I haven't been disappointed with Sam's either. I have been with Walmart.

The difference there is choice vs. select.
 
MrSym said:
We were selling the Black Canyon Angus Beef (Select), and had good success with it, but am having to change to another supplier. I was considering the Creekstone Farms program because it is offered by a supplier that services my area (Nortwest Georgia). I just want to make sure it is a good program before making a switch. It seems that the prices were decent for what seems like a good program. I just want to check it out first...


...I just want to settle on a good solid program, and not switch around too much, in fear of losing customers due to inconsistency.
Click to expand...

Depending on the quantity that you'll be using, you might look into buying direct from a small packer/processor in your area. Work with them so they know the volume and types of cuts that you'll be wanting and see if you can set up your own system. One of the easiest ways to get decent meat out of a select carcass is to let it hang longer. Most large processors let it hang for 24 hours and then it's turned into boxed beef and shipped or stored. I don't think it ages the same once it's been vacuum-packed as it does in the cooler, but I don't have any science to back that up. Longer hanging time=better/more tender beef. Let's nature break down a lot of the tougher connective tissue for you. I know our local grocery (town of 800) gets their meat from a small packer. It costs more, but a lot of people drive from surrounding towns to get meat there.

I know when we would get the culls out of our pen of fats, we'd let them hang for dang near 2 weeks before cutting them up. Unless it was a really bad one, we always got pretty good beef.

Phil
 

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