The Certified Angus Beef scam

JimVT | 12/01/10 | JimVT

[JimVT]

The latest screw the consumer attack is coming from Angus Beef cattlemen and America's meat sellers.

Try and find a piece of meat with the "Certified Angus Beef" (CAB) sticker on it that also has the acceptable USDA grade on it. Very difficult, if at all.

My local market managers when asked about the USDA grade on thier CAB meat say: "Oh, it's choice or select."

So how are we supposed to know which? I don't knowingly buy "select".

This is a scam...ripoff...and consumer fraud!

Complain to your meat seller and tell your congressman to force the USDA to stop this fraud!

[goat granny]

I really didn't like goat meat. I think its an acquired taste, but they make great salami. Once had Italian sausage made, but to make Italian sausage is an art form...my BIL’s father came from Sicily and his sausage was to die for. Our own raised beef, like raising your own meat chickens taste so much better...Our cow got grained once a day but pasture any time...

The marbling is where the flavor is, tasty good..

Pumpkin was a treat for her in the fall, once in a while I'd throw her a bale of alfalfa..usually that was only for the goats...

[N. Theknow]

And they certainly won’t steer you wrong. And it is wonderful to have a beef with them.

[seoul62]

Hee-Hee, where did this incident occur?

[Straight Vermonter]

Select was known as “Good” until 1987. Most meat packers refer to anything below Choice as “no roll” because it does not have the rolled stamp labeling it as Prime or Choice.

[Straight Vermonter]

I don’t want the government telling me which cut of meat is which.

As a consumer you are 100% percent correct. As a wholesale buyer purchasing a whole tractor trailer load of beef, however, I can't go out and inspect the entire truck load so it is nice to have a standard. I think the standards could be established by the industry rather than government though.

[Straight Vermonter]

And where is it in the constitution that says the government even has the authority to “grade” beef?

The interstate commerce clause.

[Beagle8U]

I know all that, I live in a farming area and have did some farming of my own ( raised hogs for market).

I also know several farmers ( friends for over 30 years) that buy Holstein bull calves, raise them for beef, and sell them to dealers that sell the beef as certified Angus beef.

They said the rules on what is certified Angus is so loose that any beef with black in the hide can get the label.

[Beagle8U]

I know that.

[IamConservative]

They said the rules on what is certified Angus is so loose that any beef with black in the hide can get the label.

There are 10 criteria for meat being certified as Certified Angus Beef. All 10 criteria are inspected on the carcass. The inspectors don't ever see the cattle on hoof. A Polled Hereford can end up in your store as Certified Angus Beef.

[SeaHawkFan]

Prime... the highest grade is sold only to restaurants and high end hotels.

Not true anymore. You an find prime beef at Costco every day of the week. I would assume there are other sources, as well.

[MrB]

When I worked as an automation engineer in beef plants, I was told of a class of beef called “HRI’s”. It stood for “Hotels, Restaurants, and Institutions”. I was also told that “Institutions” included prisons.

[Beagle8U]

Exactly. It has to do with the quality of the finished beef, the age, the lack of ‘hump’, and how it was raised and fed.

It would have made more sense to just add another ‘grade’ to beef, rather than using a breed name. Call it extra-prime or something like that.

In my opinion a Holstein/Hereford cross is about the best beef you can get if it is raised right.

[IamConservative]

In my opinion a Holstein/Hereford cross is about the best beef you can get if it is raised right.

We always had Polled Herefords and some Charolais mix for size. The beef we raised for our own consumption was raised in confinement with a controlled diet, which produced a good marbled prime beef. The market doesn't pay enough premium to justify this effort and expense in large volumes.

There is a big difference between proper marbling and fat. What went to market was fat, what went to the freezer was marbled. :)

[Mr. Lucky]

Exactamundo.

We raise Polled Herefords and will generally expose a heifer to an Angus bull for her first calf and a Polled Hereford bull thereafter. There are some advantages to the cross breed (and there are some advantages to the purebreds), but carcas quality is indistinguishable. The single biggest factor is whether the market bear the cost of targeting for prime over choice or select.

[BamaDi]

Mobile Alabama.....wish I’d taken a pix that morning....

[absalom01]

Exactly. What doesn’t it permit after all!

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Of course you are correct about beef. I’m not a fan of feed lots or steriods. But give some of the corn feed, marbeled beef every time!

[Big Giant Head]

Beefy Pingy

[Big Giant Head]

I think so. Rib eyes, choice approx. $6.50 / lb. I've been impressed with their meat. Their produce is very good also. Good bakery too. My problem is the nearest Costco is 15 miles away.

That's close! We drive that far to shop at Walmart, and farther to go to work. There are no Costcos near us. I'd love to visit one.

[Bob]

Back when I attended Virginia Tech, the meat that got delivered to the dining halls had the following message stamped on the outside of the boxes:

“USDA - Beef - Fit For Human Consumption”

Now, that's really reassuring. :=)