Beef With Marbling

Marble score or grades are a component of the aus meat beef quality grading system and is assessed within the ribeye muscle.

Beef with marbling.

Marbling is fat so it is largely determined by the diet of the animal and to a certain degree the breed of cattle. In japan up to 12 different grades exist for wagyu beef. Cattle that are raised on grain will have more marbling than grass fed beef this is fairly intuitive since you can imagine how difficult it would be to get fat by eating grass. High grade beef has a lot of marbling and therefore offers superior tenderness texture and delicious flavor while also bringing a higher price.

Beef marble scores are used to rate beef. Certain breeds have higher marbling scores on average due to the way they metabolize food. Marbling is a measure of quality and as such the meat industry is always using meat science to make production more predictable and uniform to boost profits. Wagyu beef for example can be extremely marbled due to its genetics so much so that it s prized for that marbling.

And some cattle breeds simply will not produce marbled meat no matter what they are fed how fat they get or how tender their beef is. In addition to the quantity of marbling the distribution and texture of visible fat flecks within the ribeye are also considered during assessment of marbling score. Marbling is what gives beef its flavor juiciness and tenderness. Feed and finishing may also impact marbling with grass finished cattle offering a leaner beefier flavor whereas grain finished beef are much milder.

Usda s agricultural marketing service ams employs 200 highly skilled beef graders who sometimes with the help of electronic monitoring evaluate several factors that determine the grade including the amount and distribution of marbling. Based on that one location of the cow they can then determine if the beef in the entire cow is prime choice or select. When beef graders yes there are people who grade beef for a living are grading beef they specifically look at amount of marbling in the ribeye muscle between the 12 th and 13 th ribs.