After proposing grading standards for domestically produced beef in 2017, Mexico has updated and finalized its rule after addressing U.S. concerns.
“While we don’t have any problem with a country doing their own grading standards, our concerns that [U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF)] and the U.S. industry have is we were worried it could very well create confusion in that the English and Spanish names were pretty closely aligned,” said USMEF CEO and President Dan Halstrom in an audio report. “We wanted to make sure the Mexico consumers—who are very familiar with U.S. beef and our grading standards here—were able to maintain our quality differentiation with the use of our grading standards in the U.S.”
When Mexico first proposed a national beef grading system in 2017, USMEF submitted comments to Mexico’s Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food, concerned about interchangeably using USDA’s grade names “Prime,” “Choice,” “Select” and “Standard.”
In the updated rule, U.S. grade names are no longer included and Mexico’s grades are not presented as equivalent to U.S. or other grades. After reviewing the final rule, USMEF feels confident the new rule addresses the U.S.’ previous concerns.
“We have worked many years, decades in fact, to try and differentiate U.S. beef. We want to make sure that any changes here don’t put us at a disadvantage,” Halstrom said.
Although an English version of the new standards has not yet been widely released, the standards are set to enter into effect 180 days after publication in Mexico. However, it could take longer due to the process of approving a certification organization and training of graders.
The grading system establishes four classifications of beef as “Premium,” “Suprema,” “Selecta,” and “Estandar,” and will no longer interchangeably use the English translations. There will be seven classifications regarding marbling, which in English are: “slightly abundant,” “moderate,” “modest,” “small,” “light,” “trace,” and “practically devoid.”
The system also sets the standards for how maturity will be defined. Once the determination of the physiological maturity and the degree of marbling is made, a class of beef will be granted in the grading system. Carcasses that cannot be classified will be deemed “unclassified” and must show no record of any classification on its packaging.
Beef in Mexico
WLJ spoke with Dr. Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University livestock marketing specialist, who has extensive experience with the Mexican cattle and beef industry. Peel said developing a national meat grading system in Mexico has been about a 20-year process.
“Mexico has never had a national system because it’s only really been in the last 15 or so years that Mexico’s beef industry has become a truly national market,” Peel said. “Up until then, it was very regional, and there weren’t necessarily a lot of similarities or equivalence across regions in terms of how the industry worked, or the type of meat and the quality.”
Peel said he thinks the establishment of a grading system in the country is more oriented toward its domestic market, and not necessarily the export market, as the process started long before Mexico was involved in export markets. As the country begins to have more of a national market, a grading system will help provide more equivalence and better communication.
Historically, Mexico marketed its beef through local “wet markets.” Today, beef is fabricated differently than in the U.S., by using a European-style fabrication, so cuts are not always equivalent to each other, Peel said.
Meat is cooked differently compared to the U.S., and therefore the country considers a different standard of quality. Marbling is typically not as apparent, due to cooking and consumption preferences. There was relatively little feedlot production in the country 20 years ago, Peel said, and virtually no boxed beef. Now, the market is heavily driven by boxed beef, which has increased the need for a national grading system.
Peel noted that the U.S. imports mostly muscle cuts from Mexico for a targeted demographic, who actively seek out less-marbled products. SuKarne is the largest beef packing company in the country, and exports over 95 percent of its beef to the U.S.
Mexico published the updated standards in its official gazette in late October, so the grading system will be mostly in place by April of next year. — Anna Miller, WLJ editor
