The USDA meat grading system sets standards of quality and cutability (yield of edible meat) used in buying and selling of meat. As a voluntary program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the cost of the quality and yield grading program is borne by meat packers. Grading provides consumers an assurance that the product purchased conforms to an expected standard of palatability.
To better explain the procedures and technologies involved in quality and yield grading, the beef checkoff’s research team has developed a guided simulation and learning module.
“Beef quality continues to be one of the key demand drivers for beef, but many in the industry never have the chance to develop the understanding of how beef carcasses are assigned yield and quality grades,” says Bridget Wasser, checkoff executive director of Meat Science & Technology. “The USDA Grading Module and Simulation includes educational modules such as grading’s history and teaches the carcass grading process step-by-step. The simulation put words into action and allows users to yield and quality grade a beef carcass from start to finish as USDA Agricultural Marketing Service employees do on a daily basis.”
For more information about your beef checkoff investment, visit MyBeefCheckoff.com.
UNDERSTANDING THE BEEF CHECKOFF PROGRAM
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Source: The Beef Checkoff Program
