Should pork use beef quality grade terms?

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and many other state-level cattle groups answered a call for comments by the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) on proposals to use beef quality grade terms for pork. The proposal would have used familiar beef terms like “Prime,” “Choice,” and “Select” as quality grades for pork. “The quality grades of Prime, Choice, and Select have a long history in our industry of indicating quality of beef products, and they have become an inherent part of the beef marketing system in the United States. We are concerned that the use of Prime, Choice, and Select on pork will cause confusion among the consumers since those terms have historically been used for beef,” wrote Colin Woodall, NCBA’s senior vice president of government affairs, in the group’s response. The comment period on this proposal closed March 19 with 50 comments submitted, according to regulations.gov. — WLJ