Would you order a restaurant’s ribeye if there was a 75% chance the eating experience would be poor? Likely the answer is no. Generations ahead of millennials can sympathize with this sentiment, as marbling had taken a dive and pushed beef quality to this low in the 1990s1. Consumer trust, and demand for beef, followed.
But then our industry got to work.
Better genetics, better production practices and buy-in from the beef community to turn the trajectory around.
As beef quality has improved, consumer trust has increased—and consequently, so has demand.
Looking to the meat counter or steakhouse menu, consumer protein interests have evolved over time. And now the expectation is for a premium product. According to the 2024 Power of Meat study, 62% of consumers state “quality” as the top factor in purchasing meat. They also care about price, nutritional benefit, brand, environmental stewardship, animal welfare and food safety. But quality is king in purchasing power.
To be considered “high quality,” beef must grade upper 2/3 Choice or Prime.
With tremendous strides made in beef production, only 12% of the current fed beef supply is graded as Select. Five years ago, Select grade beef would have accounted for more than 20% of the fed beef supply. However, and more importantly to consumers, the upper 2/3 Choice grade now accounts for approximately 34% of the total fed beef supply, and Prime accounts for nearly 12%. Supply in both Choice and Prime continue growing, but why?
Continued buy-in from the beef community.
Opportunity Ahead
With consumers continuing to clearly express preference for high-quality beef, the question arises, “Is it possible to produce more?” Short answer, yes.
The economic signals are clear from consumer to producer. Ranchers get rewarded for raising the right kind of cattle: easy-fleshing, performance-driven, never-had-a-bad-day cattle. The kind that grade well on the rail, yielding a product consumers want—and will pay more for.
It certainly doesn’t hurt when those kinds of cattle qualify for an additional premium, like Certified Angus Beef (CAB). In 2023, producers were paid an average premium of $95/head for carcasses qualifying for the brand (compared to the base price of a grid). Not only is that economic incentive meaningful to your bottom line, but it is also steadfast. Since 2021, the CAB premium has consistently moved closer to $100/head.
From the scientific perspective, that economic signal (demand) can be met with supply.
Cattle that move through a packing plant are evaluated for Certified Angus Beef qualification; and those predominantly black, Angus-type cattle receive the A stamp. This A stamp checks a box in the live cattle evaluation, signaling meat graders to verify carcass specifications are met for brand acceptance. One of 10 carcass specifications, it is required that carcasses have modest or higher marbling for CAB.
Grade | Marbling Score |
Prime + | Abundant 00-100 |
Prime o | Moderately Abundant 00-100 |
Prime – | Slightly Abundant 00-100 |
Choice + | Moderate 00-100 |
Choice o | Modest 00-100 |
Choice – | Small 00-100 |
Select + | Slight 50-100 |
Select – | Slight 00-49 |
Standard + | Traces 34-100 |
Standard o | Practically Devoid 67-100 to Traces 00-33 |
Standard – | Practically Devoid 00-66 |
Caption: The red highlight differentiates marbling specification requirement for CAB acceptance.
Chart courtesy of Texas A&M University. Each degree of marbling is divided into 100 subunits. Marbling scores are discussed in tenths within each degree of marbling.
Insufficient marbling (sub-500 degrees of marbling) is the top reason why carcasses fail to qualify for CAB. Those carcasses represent 45% of the A-stamp supply. That’s a significant amount and moving all that supply to above 500 degrees requires tremendous effort. So, let’s look at it from another perspective.
We can make great strides by focusing on the population who narrowly miss the cut for CAB. Falling only 30 degrees short, 10.54% of carcasses fail to qualify due to insufficient marbling.
Moving those carcasses up to CAB brand standard would create a win-win scenario for consumers and producers. Consumers win because they have access to more high-quality beef supply and producers win by creating and capturing additional value.
The quest for quality has been a shining star of achievement for beef producers since the original National Beef Quality Audit in 1991. However, consumers’ expectations continue evolving and the demand for higher quality, not just high quality, is the new standard of excellence. In a January 2024 study conducted by Cleveland Research, consumers demonstrated that they care more about quality now than they did one year ago by a margin of 6%. The quality expectation by consumers is not lessening, despite inflationary pressure and challenging economic conditions.
Quality has been—and will continue to be—where consumers and ranchers meet.
Bruce Cobb is executive vice president of production and Lindsay Graber Runft is director of producer communications for Certified Angus Beef.
The CAB Series
In this new series of articles with Drovers, our team at CAB will dig deeper into the quest for quality in beef production. We’ll visit with experts from each sector of the beef community, detailing how and why it matters to move marbling standards forward. If you’re in the cattle business, you’re in the beef business.
And end users, from grocery shoppers at the meat counter to steakhouse chefs, are counting on a high-quality product. From gate to plate.
Source:
1Morgan JB, Savell JW, Hale DS, Miller RK, Griffin DB, Cross HR, Shackelford SD. National Beef Tenderness Survey. J Anim Sci. 1991 Aug; 69(8):3274-83.
