Beef Grades

Grading is typically performed by a third party organization or by a government agency like the USDA in the United States. The age of the animal and the marbling of the meat determine the grade of the meat. Beef are graded whole so you will find some variance in grades of an individual cut. In the United States grades are prime, choice and select with prime being at the top and select being the bottom. Actually, the lowest rated meats are not for general retail distribution and become things like meat by-products.

Prime grade beef makes up about 2% of all the beef produced in the United States and typically ends up exported or sold to fine restaurants. What you will normally find on the shelves at the store is choice and select. Since prime is difficult to find your best option is to purchase a choice cut. But, it is not impossible to find Prime steaks out there. I suggest you try it because you will notice a difference. Since choice is superior to select you can buy a less desirable cut to compensate for the higher price.

One thing to remember about grading is that these designations are designed to be friendly to the multi-billion dollar Beef Industry. There is a considerable amount of thought into brand names and marketing that shows up on that label on the meat you so read carefully.