Yield Grading:
Less Waste , More Prof it
Increased demand for yield
graded beef by large-scale meat
buyers is promising to make the
eight-year old yield grading
system the wave of the future in
the meat industry. U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture yield grades
measure a carcass’s yield of
closely trimmed retail cuts.
During Fiscal Year 1973, the
amount of beef yield graded was
a recordsetting 55 percent of the
pounds of beef quality graded
during the same period; and
nearly 85 percent of the nation’s
fed beef production was quality
graded during FY’73. The 55
percent figure marks a whopping
boost from the modest three and
one-half percent that was yield
graded in Fiscal Year 1966, the
first full year the service was in
operation. Poundage-wise, yield
grading has increased 20-fold
during its eight years, going from
about 350 million pounds yield
graded in FY ’66 to over seven
billion pounds in FY ’73.
Why the big surge? Primarily
because more and more super
market and other wholesale meat
buyers are asking for yield
graded meats. The explanation is
one of basic economics. Car
cassees with higher yield grades
give the buyer more beef to sell
than carcasses with lower yield
grades. A single yield grade
difference almost always makes
a substantial monetary dif
ference to the buyer. Also, car
casses with higher yield grades
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are less expensive to handle
because they require less
trimming and result in less
waste, which in the long run
means lower operating costs per
pound of salable meat.
Yield grading is simply a
method of identifying the amount
of closely trimmed retail cuts
that can be obtained from a given
carcass. Yield grades range from
one to five, with Yield Grade 1
having the higest yield of retail
cuts - 80 percent or more - and
Yield Grade 5 the lowest - 66
percent or less.
Yield grades should not be
confused with quality grades.
Yield grades are determined
separately from quality grades,
and carcasses can be graded for
quality, or yield, or both. You can
expect to get essentially the same
percentage of retail cuts from a
Choice Yield Grade 1 beef car
cass as you would from a Prime
Yield Grade 1 beef carcass. The
same holds true for all yield
grades regardless~of the quality
grade. However, yield and
quality grading have two aspects
in common - both are performed
by USDA meat graders, on a
voluntary fee-for-service basis.
Approximately 380' meat
graders across the nation per
form yield and quality grading
and related activities that
facilitate the marketing of meat.
They work out of 12 main stations
and a number of substations. The
main station for the northeast
region, located in Newark, N. J.,
assigns graders to the New York
Metropolitan area.
The modus operandi of yield
grading requires the services of a
skilled practitioner - such as
Joseph Colella of the Newark, N.
J., meat grading station.
Donning a hard hat and a
quilted coat under his white coat
to protect himself against the 36
degree temperature inside
packing plant coolers, Colella
first determines the preliminary
yield grade by making an
estimate of the amount of outside
fat covering the carcass. He pays
particular attention to the
thickness of the layer of fat
covering the ribeye muscle,
which is exposed by cutting a side
of the carcass into quarters
between the twelfth and
thirteenth ribs, as well as to the
overall appearance of the car
cass.
Next. Colella looks at the ex
posed cross section of the ribeye
muscle. He estimates the area of
the ribeye muscle and compares
this measurement to the weight
of the carcass.
So skilled and practiced is
Colella that he can accurately
determine a yield grade just by
looking over a carcass quickly
and carefully. On borderline
cases he can be almost absolutely
accurate by using his measuring
tools - a small ruler for
measuring fat thickness and a
plastic grid for measuring the
area of the ribeye muscle. These
tools usually confirm his original
estimate - if not, he changes his
estimate to coincide with what
his tools tell him. His job
demands speed and accuracy so
he can grade hundreds of beef
carcasses in a matter of a few
hours.
“Packers charge by quality
grade,” Colella says. “Butchers
take the meat if it has the quality
they are looking for. They make
less profit when they buy fat
carcasses because they get a
lower yield of retail cuts and it
costs money for trimming.
Packers will provide yield
graded meat if their customers
demand it, and I forsee a wider
use of yield grades in the future.”
Yield grades 2 and 3 are the
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 15,1973
most commonly requested yield
grades by buyers of high quality
grades of beef. It may cost them
more to buy higher yielding beef
carcasses, but they end up get
ting better values.
The meat operations manager
for a larger grocery store chain
says that he pays at wholesale 50
cents more per hundred pounds
for Yield Grade 3 beef and $l.OO to
$1.50 more for Yield Grade 2 beef
than for beef that has not been
yield graded.
However, according to USDA
statistics for September 1973 the
difference in retail value between
carcasses a full yield grade apart
is $6.21 per hundredweight. For a
six hundred pound carcass, for
example, the difference in value
between a typical Yield Grade 2
and 3 would be $37.26.
Joseph Berly, manager of a
meat department for Associated
Food Stores, a prominent
supermarket chain in the
metropolitan New York City
area, sees the value of yield
graded meat right on the cutting
block, as he supervises the
preparation of retail cuts from
sides and quarters.
“Yield grades are more im
portant to the butcher than the
consumer, profitwise,” he says.
“More fat must be trimmed away
when we get Yield Grades 4 or 5.
The amount of waste on a carcass
affects our margin of profit.
However, the customer gets the
same trimmed cuts of Choice
meat.”_
Alan H. Olstein, vice-president
and director of the meat division
for Daitch-Shopwell, with
supermarkets through New York
and Connecticut, also attests to
the value of yield grades.
“The yield grading system is a
good one,” he says. “It lets us
know how much saleable meat
we’re getting. We’re interested in
making a profit so the amount of
saleable meat we get is im
portant to us.”
Every ounce of fat that has to
be trimmed off costs a retailer
money. In November 1973, beef
was wholesaling at 65 cents a
pound. The most the retailer
could get back on the fat he had to
trim off in making retail cuts was
a “salvage” price of 10 cents a
pound.
An executive for a large food
store chain, which sells six to
eight million pounds of meat per
week in over 500 stores, says that
his store has asked for yield
graded meat ever since the
system began, because it helps
him get the kind of meat he wants
to sell.
“It was at our request that
some of the big packers started
using the yield grading service,”
he says. “Yield grading is a
valuable tool in the marketplace.
It simplifies the transactions
between buyer and seller,” he
adds.
The growing demand for higher
yield beef will be communicated
back to the feeders and breeders.
This demand will encourage the
nation’s cattlemen to produce
more higher yielding beef, which
will, in turn, increase the nation’s
meat supply.
For more information on USD A
Yield Grades for beef and-or
lamb, write for a single free copy
of “USDA Yield Grades for Beef”
(MB-45) or “USDA Yield Grades
for Lamb” (MB-52) to: In
formation Division, Agricultural
Marketing Service, US.
Department of Agriculture, 26
Federal Plaza (Room 1653), New
York, New York 10007.
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