These grades are determined by the USDA, and there's eight in total, but the other five are less common. Not all beef is graded — it's a voluntary service that producers have to pay for.

Many of us are already familiar with the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) standard beef grades: prime, choice, and select. This grading scale can be a handy way to gauge the ...

(The USDA’s meat grades come out of its marketing branch, which is part of the reason why those blue stamps feature the USDA logo so prominently. The FDA’s logo doesn’t appear on the ...