Wholesale Meat – Learning the Language

Canada and the United States share the language used when discussing, producing and purchasing wholesale meat. The nomenclature is designed to balance trade between the countries with beef, pork and veal. The wholesale meat primarily serves government agencies, hotels, restaurants, schools and so on, allowing them to save on large volume purchases. The shared nomenclature has several benefits for the US and Canada alike, such as cutting costs on inventory maintenance and allows for easier trade between wholesale meat companies. With a whole new language, the two countries are better able to unite the industry.

 

Wholesale Meat Trade Problems from the Past

 

In the past, the United States and Canada had difficulties maintaining trade because of the different names for the same cuts, the labelling requirements and other rules. Canada used the Meat Cuts Manual, a regulatory document that dictated the meat classification system, while the US chose the IMPS list of standards, which is voluntary rather than required. Though they shared similarities, there were several differences that were missing and made for a tough trade. In 2014, the US Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications aligned the language, industry practice, as well as updated the Purchased Specified Options and Material Requirements to improve clarity and appearance. The 11-document series covers refrigeration, meat handling, packaging, quality assurance requirements, and code descriptions for beef, cooked meat products, goat, lamb, pork, sausage, variety meats, and veal.

 

Canada Wholesale Meat Cuts and Requirements

 

You can read the full Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications online to identify the new language in place for wholesale meat in Canada and the US. With 11 total series, there is no lack of information to cover the requirements in place for fresh beef, fresh lamb and mutton, fresh veal and calf, fresh pork, cured pork, cured and smoked pork, cooked pork, cured beef, dried and smoked beef, variety meats, edible by-products, sausage products, and fresh goat. There are additional requirements in place to harmonize the definition of different grades of meats, such as beef, pork, goat and many other meats.

 

Prime-grade Canadian beef is rather beautiful with a heavily marbled appearance with red meat coated with an even layer of fat, which offers a tender, juicy beef cut. Only about 2% of wholesale meat can be given the Prime grade, as they are more likely to be graded as AAA. AAA cuts of beef have very little marbling that can be seen, though it is only slightly less high quality than Prime. About half of graded beefs are given this quality status. This cut is resilient, and produces a tender and juicy cut regardless of how you cook it. 45% of graded beef can be found under the grade AA, which has a slight marbled appearance. Overall, it still provides a pretty tasty meal for just about anyone. Lastly, there’s A, the lowest quality of the four. Only 3% of beef in Canada is given this lower grade. A-grade beef is still pretty quality, considering it’s grades within A-Prime.