Quality Grading

Appears in
Professional Cooking: 10th Edition
Professional Cooking

By Wayne Gisslen

Published 2025

  • About
  1. Grading is a quality designation.
  2. The grade is indicated by a shield stamp (Fig. 16.2).
  3. Grading is not required by U.S. law. (Some packers use a private grading system and give different brand names to different grades. Reliability of private grades depends on the integrity of the packer.)
Quality grading is based on the texture, firmness, and color of the lean meat, the age or maturity of the animal, and the marbling (the fat within the lean).

All these factors must be considered together. For example, old, tough meat can still have marbling, but it would rate a low grade because of the other factors. Table 16.1 summarizes USDA meat grades.