USDA Announces Approved Instruments for Beef Grading

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced the approval of three new vision grading instruments for use in its beef grading program.

This technology helps ensure consistent, uniform application of USDA beef grades that drives payments for producers, value determinations for packers, and ultimately communicates quality to the U.S. consumer. The integration of these technologies will also help modernize grading operations, support data driven decision making, and improve the overall transparency and uniformity of carcass evaluation for customers and stakeholders.

Technology is approved to predict marbling scores for the application of Prime, Choice, and Select grade shields, the application of Yield Grades (1-5), and the measuring of ribeye area that is often used in Certified Beef Programs.

The newly approved technologies are the Global Meat Imaging LLC, GMI Google Pixel 7a technology, the JBT / Marel / E+V, VBG2000-7L technology, and the MEQ Incorporated,
MEQ Camera V2 technology.

The full list of Approved Technologies is below:

Global Meat Imaging LLC
GMI Google Pixel 7a technology
• Approved to predict Official Beef Marbling Score

JBT / Marel / E+V
VBG2000-GigE technology
• Approved to predict Official Beef Marbling Score, Ribeye Area,
Preliminary Yield Grade, and Yield Grade

JBT / Marel / E+V
VBG2000-7L technology
• Approved to predict Official Beef Marbling Score, Ribeye Area,
Preliminary Yield Grade, and Yield Grade

MEQ Incorporated
MEQ Camera V2 technology
• Approved to predict Official Beef Marbling Score, Ribeye Area,
Preliminary Yield Grade, and Yield Grade

RMS/CVS
• Approved to predict Official Beef Marbling Score, Ribeye Area,
Preliminary Yield Grade, and Yield Grade

The full list and a visual aid of approved systems can be found on the AMS website. For more information, contact Derek Vote at (970) 966-0463, or by email at [email protected] or [email protected].