010136 USDA Wants Grades Off Imported MeatJanuary 24, 2001Washington - In a victory for U.S. livestock producers, the Agriculture Department proposed to stop putting quality grades on imported beef and other meat. U.S. producers say that stamping foreign meat with USDA grades gives consumers the false impression that the meat is domestically grown. Under the department's system, beef carcasses are graded as prime, select or choice, depending on its tenderness; prime is the top grade. There are similar scales for lamb and veal. Meat that is butchered before being shipped to the United States does not receive a USDA grade. Some meatpackers and foreign countries, including Canada and Australia, want the department to continue grading imports. The final decision on whether to stop will be made by the incoming Bush administration. The public and industry will have 90 days to comment. “When a consumer purchases beef that is certified with one of the USDA quality grades, that leads them to believe the beef was raised in the United States,” said George Hall, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. The Agriculture Department's proposal “will assure U.S. consumers that the USDA grade shield only appears on meat products from livestock slaughtered in the United States,” said Kathleen Merrigan, administrator of the department's Agricultural Marketing Service. The department grades 100,000 lamb and 50,000 beef carcasses per year. The grading is performed by USDA inspectors in packing plants. In another move aimed at curbing imports, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association reached agreement with meatpackers and the supermarket industry last fall on a voluntary system for labeling domestic beef as “Made in the U.S.A.” The program has yet to be approved by the Agriculture Department, which would have to certify beef as U.S.-produced. About 10% of beef sold in the United States is imported.
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