The Canadian Beef Industry is devoted to
producing Beef Products which deliver on our Customers Expectations for
Outstanding Eating Quality.
The Canadian Beef
Grading Agency
 The
Canadian Beef Grading Agency (CBGA) was created to deliver grading services for
Canadian beef. The CBGA is accredited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to
assign grades in accordance with the national standards published in the
Livestock and Poultry Carcass Grading Regulation. A carcass may only be graded
after it has been inspected and received the meat inspection stamp indicating
that the beef satisfies all Canadian meat safety requirements. The grading
system functions to provide a standardized measurement system to support pricing
decisions and to support greater consistency and predictability in the eating
quality of specific grades of beef.
To
ensure optimal performance each grader must complete a comprehensive training
program approved by the CBGA. After the initial certification is obtained,
graders must undergo scheduled audits based on the number of carcasses they
grade. These audits include those conducted by the Chief of Grading Standards,
an employee of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. Ongoing testing is
performed to make certain that grading occurs in a manner which is consistent
across Canada and accurately reflects national requirements.
In
addition to its grading functions, the CBGA is involved in certification of
brands such as those for beef produced only from a specific breed of cattle.
This independent verification assures buyers that the standards for source
verified branded beef programs are being met.
To visit the CBGA website
click here
Canadian
Beef Grading Program:
The Canadian
beef grading program complements Canada's meat inspection program, to form an
effective combination for the marketing of Canadian beef. The Canadian beef
grading system began in 1929. Since that time, tremendous changes have taken
place to the grading system, and it is now regarded to be one of the best in the
world.
The Canadian beef grading system fulfils the primary purpose of dividing the
population of cattle carcasses into uniform groups to facilitate marketing. The
system provides an effective means of describing product that is easily
understood by both buyers and sellers. Major changes were introduced to the
system in 1992, 1996 and 2001 to more accurately assess beef carcass quality and
yield. This system enables buyers, when specifying a grade, to be assured of
specific quality and yield information for the particular carcasses to which a
grade has been applied. Other than the market segmentation function, grading is
also performed for payment purposes to cattle producers.
Approximately 85% of the 3 million Federally-inspected beef carcasses
processed in Canada were graded in 2008, although the grading system itself is
voluntary. In Canada, beef grading is provided through the Canadian Beef Grading
Agency in abattoirs which receive either federal or provincial government meat
inspection services. Grade standards and regulations are enforced by Government
of Canada (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) employees.
The Canadian
Quality Grade
There are
thirteen (13) beef grades in the Canadian system. They are Canada A, Canada AA,
Canada AAA, Canada Prime, Canada B1, Canada B2, Canada B3, Canada B4, Canada D1,
Canada D2, Canada D3, Canada D4, and Canada E. The four Canada A/AA/AAA/Prime
grades are the highest quality Canadian grades and represented 88% of all graded
beef in 2008. The four Canada B grades are for youthful carcasses (less than 30
months of age) which do not meet the minimum quality requirements of the Canada
A/AA/AAA/Prime grades. They represented 1% of all beef carcasses graded in 2008.
The four Canada D grades are essentially cow grades (from mature carcasses) and
represented 10% of the total graded carcasses. The E grade is reserved for
mature or youthful bull carcasses showing pronounced masculinity and represented
1% of the graded carcasses in 2008. A total of 15% of Canada’s total beef
carcasses were not graded in 2008. It is important to note that since grading is
voluntary, almost half of cow and bull carcasses tend not to be graded.
Quality Grade Criteria
The key grading
criteria for the quality grades are carcass maturity, muscling, meat quality,
external fat covering, and marbling. For maturity, carcasses are evaluated as
either "youthful" or "mature" according to the degree of bone ossification.
Youthful carcasses will have cartilaginous caps on the thoracic vertebrae that
are no more than half ossified, and the lumbar vertebrae will show evidence of
cartilage or at least as red line present on the tips. Youthful carcasses are
produced from cattle generally less than 24 months of age and no more than 30
months of age. Carcasses showing more advanced ossification are considered to be
mature and must be graded in one of the Canada D grades or as Canada E in the
case of a bull.
Canadian Grading Background information
Click on the image to see a comparison
of Canadian and US Quality Grades
for Youthful Carcasses
To view a chart outlining Canada's
quality grades
for all types of cattle click on the image
Grade Names - Quality Grades
There are thirteen (13) beef grades in the
Canadian system. They are Canada A, Canada AA, Canada AAA, Canada Prime, Canada
B1, Canada B2, Canada B3, Canada B4, Canada D1, Canada D2, Canada D3, Canada D4,
and Canada E. The four Canada A/AA/AAA/Prime grades are the highest quality
Canadian grades and represented 88% of all graded beef in 2008. The four Canada
B grades are for youthful carcasses (less than 30 months of age) which do not
meet the minimum quality requirements of the Canada A/AA/AAA/Prime grades. They
represented 1% of all beef carcasses graded in 2008. The four Canada D grades
are essentially cow grades (from mature carcasses) and represented 10% of the
total graded carcasses. The E grade is reserved for mature or youthful bull
carcasses showing pronounced masculinity and represented 1% of the graded
carcasses in 2008. A total of 15% of Canada’s total beef carcasses were not
graded in 2008. It is important to note that since grading is voluntary, almost
half of cow and bull carcasses tend not to be graded.
Canada Grading Symbols
for Youthful Carcasses
(Canada Prime, AAA, AA, and A)
Canada A/AA/AAA/Prime Grades
The four high quality grades (A, AA, AAA, Prime)
represent 98% of all youthful graded Canadian beef carcasses. The grade criteria
for these four grades are identical, with the only exception being
degree of marbling. Carcasses must be youthful to
be graded in these grades. This ensures a high level of tenderness in all four
grades of high quality Canadian beef. Muscling must range from good with some
deficiencies, to excellent. The ribeye muscle must have a bright red colour and
be firm in texture. There is a minimum external fat thickness of 2 millimetres
required at the ribeye measurement site, and the external fat must be firm and
white, or no more than slightly tinged with reddish or amber colour. These
criteria are identical for all four grades. To distinguish between A, AA, AAA,
and Prime graded carcasses, the grader evaluates the level of marbling.
A carcass with youthful characteristics, bright
red meat colour, and white fat with at least traces but less than slight
marbling will be designated with CANADA A grade (3% of graded youthful
carcasses). A carcass with similar characteristics but with a minimum of Slight
marbling will be designated with a CANADA AA grade (45% of graded youthful
carcasses). A carcass, again with similar high quality characteristics but with
a minimum of Small marbling will be designated with a CANADA AAA grade (50% of
graded youthful carcasses). A carcass, again with similar high quality
characteristics but with a minimum of Slightly Abundant marbling will be
designated with a CANADA Prime grade (2% of graded youthful carcasses).
Research completed by Agriculture and Agri-Food
Canada (Jones et al, Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 1991, 71:1037-1043) and
the United States Department of Agriculture (Wheeler et al, Journal of Animal
Science, 1994, 72:3145-3151) indicate that marbling levels explain no more than
5% of the variation in beef palatability (eating quality) traits. This strongly
indicates that marbling is not a major influencer of beef quality. This finding
further indicates that the eating-quality of Canada A, AA, AAA, and Prime graded
beef is uniformly high. The American research found that "USDA quality grade
does not sufficiently segregate carcasses for palatability differences, and thus
a direct measurement of meat tenderness is needed to supplement USDA quality
grades."
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The Yield Grades
In Canada, all A/AA/AAA/Prime graded carcasses
must also be graded for the lean meat yield content in the carcass. This differs
from the United States where quality and yield grading are decoupled, and
consequently there is no guarantee that both quality and yield assessments will
be made of individual carcasses. Canadian cattle producers wish to encourage a
system where producers receive a higher payment for animals which yield more
meat for each high quality grade.
There are three possible yield classifications
in the Canadian system: Carcasses exhibiting high quality characteristics and
are estimated to contain 59% or more lean meat are designated yield
classification Canada 1; Carcasses exhibiting the same high quality
characteristics and are estimated to contain between 54% and 58% lean meat are
designated yield classification Canada 2, and; Carcasses with high quality
characteristics and are estimated to contain 53% or less lean meat are
designated yield classification Canada 3. The yield grades are not determined
for any carcass graded in the B, D, or E grades. The carcass meat yield is
predicted using a muscle score and fat score. To enable the grader to estimate
the carcass meat yield quickly, a special ruler has been developed by
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada which scores length and width of the ribeye and
external fat thickness over the ribeye.
The yield
grade is a measure related to the amount of lean yield in the carcass. In the
U.S. the yield grade of a beef carcass is determined by placing the value of
four variables into a equation.
These variables are:
a) amount of external fat
b) amount of kidney, pelvic, and heart fat
c) area of the rib-eye muscle
d) carcass weight
The carcass is then assigned a yield grade of 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 with the highest
yielding carcasses receiving the 1 grade.
In Canada three measurements are used to determine yield:
These values are then inserted into a lean yield prediction equation. Yield
grades 1, 2 or 3 are assigned in accordance with the lean yield percentages
calculated.
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Canada B
Grades
The Canada B1 graded carcass has the same
criteria as an A/AA/AAA/Prime graded carcass, except that it has less than
traces of marbling and/or it has less than 2 millimetres of external fat over
the ribeye. The Canada B2 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have yellow
exterior fat. The Canada B3 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have
deficient muscling. The Canada B4 grade is given to youthful carcasses that have
dark coloured meat.
Canada D Grades
The D grades are for mature carcasses and are
normally referred to as cow or commercial grades. The Canada D1 grade is given
to mature carcasses with excellent muscling and external fat characteristics.
The CANADA D2 grade is given to mature carcasses that exhibit weaker muscling
and have poorer external fat characteristics such as yellow fat. The CANADA D3
grade is given to mature carcasses that have deficient muscling. The CANADA D4
grade is given to mature carcasses with more than 15 millimetres of external fat
over the ribeye.
Canada E Grade
The CANADA E grade is given to either youthful
or mature carcasses of bulls or stags that exhibit pronounced masculinity.
Boxed Beef Grade Monitoring
Program
The Canadian beef exporting industry has largely
moved away from sales of carcass beef, toward the sale of boxed beef. One danger
in moving into a boxed beef program is the potential loss of grade identity for
a particular carcass. Canada, in an effort to address this issue of grade
identification to the sub-primal "cut beef" level, included the compulsory
monitoring of grade identification to the boxed beef level. All Canadian boxed
beef product distributed domestically or exported by federally inspected
Canadian establishments must carry a grade identity or be marked as ungraded.
This identification system is monitored by Canadian Beef Grading Agency
employees. The key benefit to this program is that the buyer can be confident
that the product within the box bears the grade for the carcass from which it
was derived.
COMPARISONS TO THE U.S.D.A.
(American) GRADING SYSTEM
The Canadian marbling standards were changed in
1996. Today, we use the copyrighted standards used in the United States. The
minimum marbling standards used for USDA Prime (slightly abundant), Choice
(small), and Select (slight) are the same standards used in Canada to segregate
the youthful quality carcasses into Canada Prime, AAA, and AA respectively.
Canada A has no comparable USDA grade. Canada A is restricted to youthful
quality carcasses that have at least traces less than slight marbling.
Click on the image to view a summary of
Canadian and US standards for marbling.
To establish the degree of similarity in
assignment of beef quality grades in the USA and Canada, two studies were
conducted in 1994 on over 4,600 carcasses in the two countries. The studies were
conducted by the National Grade Standards Officers of both countries who
assessed each of the 4,600 carcasses independently and assigned a final quality
grade to the carcass. This study showed that there is a high degree association
(approximately 85%) between the marbling standards of the Canadian and American
high quality beef grades. It is important to note that since this study, Canada
adopted the Official USDA Marbling Photographs (Copyright 1981 National Live
Stock & Meat Board) for slight, small, and slightly abundant marbling standards.
Canada's grade classification is hierarchic in
nature. Canada has muscling, colour, and fat colour and cover minimum
requirements for our four quality grades. Quality factors in the United States
are weighted and one factor may be able to compensate for a deficiency in
another factor. The Canadian grading system allows no "quality attribute
offsets."
The American system will allow carcasses from
animals up to 42 months of age (B age category) to stay in their Prime, Choice,
and Standard grades, if the carcasses show higher levels of marbling. The
Canadian grading system will automatically remove all Mature animals (over 30
months of age - based on physiological criteria) from the four high quality
grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime) to either the "D" or "E" grades.
The American system will penalize black cutter
(black colour) beef by no more than one full grade (ie. Prime to Choice, Choice
to Select, or Select to Standard). Dark cutter (dark colour) beef will be
discounted by less than one full grade (ie. High Choice to Low Choice). It is
therefore possible for dark coloured beef to be graded Choice, Select, or
Standard in the United States. The Canadian grading system will automatically
remove all dark cutter beef from the four high quality grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime)
to the B4 grade.
The American system does not recognize yellow
fat as a quality discount factor. The Canadian grading system will automatically
remove all carcasses with yellow fat from the four high quality grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime)
to the B2 grade.
The American system does not does not have a
minimum muscling requirement for its top grades. The Canadian grading system
will automatically remove all carcasses with poor muscling from the four high
quality grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime) to the B3 grade.
The American system will allow moderately firm
textured beef in the USDA Prime grade, slightly firm textured beef in the USDA
Choice grade, slightly soft textured beef in the USDA Select grade, and soft
textured beef in the USDA Standard grade. The Canadian grading system will allow
only firm textured beef into the four high quality grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime). The
Canadian grading system will automatically remove all carcasses with less than
firm texture from the four high quality grades (A/AA/AAA/Prime) to the B grades.
The level of marbling in Canada Prime includes
the marbling levels in the American Prime. The level of marbling in Canada AAA
includes the marbling levels in the American Choice grade. The level of marbling
in Canada AA includes the marbling levels in the American Select Grade. Although
the level of marbling in Canada A includes the upper- marbling levels in the
American Standard grade, the USDA Standard grade is not considered a
high-quality grade due to numerous quality defect allowances.
The American grading system uses 5 yield
classifications (Y 1-5). The Canadian grading system uses three yield
classifications (Canada 1-3). The Canadian beef packing industry will discount
all carcasses falling in the Canada 3 category, which is equivalent to the
American Y 3-5 categories. The American beef packing industry generally
discounts carcasses falling in their Y 4-5 categories. This indicates that the
Canadian grain-fed cattle are encouraged to be higher yielding (less exterior
and seam fat) than American grain-fed cattle. This is achieved through
consistently high quality cattle genetics, environment, and feeding systems.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the Canada Prime grade is
virtually identical to the U.S.D.A. Prime grade, except that the Canadian grade
does not allow dark coloured meat, yellow fat, older animals, or other
off-quality characteristics. The Canada AAA grade is virtually identical to the
U.S.D.A. Choice grade, except that the Canadian grade does not allow dark
coloured meat, yellow fat, older animals, or other off-quality characteristics.
The Canada AA grade has comparable marbling to the U.S.D.A. Select grade, but
again the Canadian grade does not allow dark coloured meat, yellow fat, or other
off-quality characteristics. The Canada A grade is unique to Canada in that
there is less marbling but all other quality attributes are still present. This
particular grade is well suited to those consumers now wishing to limit their
level of fat intake while still wishing to enjoy the eating experience of high
quality grain-fed beef.
The Government of Canada (Canadian Food
Inspection Agency), in consultation with the Canadian beef industry, is
constantly reviewing regulations to ensure that the safety and marketability of
Canadian beef is maintained and improved. A consultation mechanism is in place
which permits input from all sectors of the industry with regard to concerns
about the inspection and grading systems.
The Canadian Veal
Grading Program
Youthful bovine carcasses,
weighing less than 160 kilograms (hide off), are classified as veal within the
Canadian beef grading program. Veal carcasses are graded for quality on the
basis of meat colour, overall muscling, and fat cover.
Veal carcasses with at least good
muscling and some creamy white fat are graded CANADA A. Those with low to medium
muscling and an excess of fat cover are graded CANADA B. Veal carcasses failing
to meet the requirements of CANADA B are graded CANADA C.
All veal carcasses are then graded
for meat colour. The veal grader uses a Minolta colour reflectance meter to do
this. The carcasses are assigned a numerical value based on the objective
measurement of meat colour. Veal carcasses are segregated into four colour
classifications, based on these meter reading values. The most pale white colour
range is given a grade of 1. As meat colour becomes more pink, grades of 2, 3,
and 4 are assigned. This scientific method of assessing meat colour is being
continually refined. Research is now underway to develop a meat probe that will
directly measure the level of meat pigment, which is the base of all colour
analysis. Should this method of colour determination be judged superior to the
current methods, this new technology will be adopted.
As indicated in the above analysis,
the top quality of Canadian veal is produced from carcasses grading A1. As
muscle and back fat quality decreases, muscling scores will move to B and then
C. As meat colour becomes more intensely pink, the colour scores will move to 2,
3, or 4. The lowest quality of Canadian veal is therefore produced from
carcasses grading C4. This process of muscle and colour grading ensures that
purchasers of Canadian veal can specific their exact quality requirements.
To learn more about Canadian Veal
please visit the following sites
milk fed veal |
grain fed
veal |
Ontario Veal
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