Neerbro

The USDA grade on a steak is a marbling score from one slice of the animal. It isn't a safety inspection. Prime, Choice and Select are the 3 grades you'll see at retail, and they're set by how much fat is flecked through the meat. After the carcass is split between the 12th and 13th ribs, a grader or a camera looks at the exposed face of the ribeye and scores the marbling. Prime needs slightly abundant marbling, Choice needs small, Select needs slight. That one score goes on the whole animal. No other cut gets looked at, and tenderness and flavor are never measured, only inferred from the fat. Inspection is required on every carcass but grading isn't. The packer asks for it and pays USDA by the hour, $101 an hour as of this month. About 68% of graded beef is now scored by camera, by USDA's own count. In 2006, 3% of graded beef was Prime, 56% was Choice and 41% was Select. By the end of 2024 it was 11% Prime, 72% Choice and 14% Select. Prime is typically 30% to 50% more per pound than Choice, and Choice is 10% to 30% more per pound than Select.