Table 5.
National Beef Quality Audit—2022: Means for USDA beef carcass grade traits between in-plant and instrument data
| Trait | In-plant survey1 (n = 9,746) |
Instrument data (n = 4,418,768) |
| USDA Quality Grade component | ||
| Marbling Score2 | 498 | 516 |
| USDA Yield Grade and components | ||
| USDA Yield Grade | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Adjusted fat thickness, cm | 1.49 | 1.55 |
| HCW, kg | 401.9 | 400.6 |
| Ribeye area, cm2 | 91.0 | 91.6 |
| KPH, % | 2.5 | 2.1 |
1Mayer et al. (2024).
2400 = Small00, 500 = Modest00, 600 = Moderate00, 700 = Slightly Abundant00, 800 = Moderately Abundant00, and 900 = Abundant00 (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017).