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USDA launches tenderness marketing claim standards
Story Date: 10/29/2012
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Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 10/26/12
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service today launched on its website industry standards for tenderness marketing claims.
AMS developed standards by which meat processors can receive USDA certification for “tender” or “very tender” product through third-party verification, AMS Deputy Administrator Craig Morris told processors here at the North American Meat Association’s outlook conference.
The thresholds for tender product are a Warner Bratzler shear force of 4.4 kilograms and a slice shear force of 20.0 kilograms. The respective thresholds for very tender product are 3.9 kilograms and 15.3 kilograms.
The thresholds can be adjusted based on industry consensus, Morris said.
Five years in the making, the standards aim to address variability in tenderness, which has been an issue particularly with select-grade beef cuts. The program was developed amid the rapid proliferation of value cuts and increasing tenderness marketing claims, Morris said.
To view the new requirements, click here.
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