Beef classification

In principle, the same trade classes apply to the classification of beef carcasses in the European Union . The three characteristics (animal) category, meatiness and fat class are evaluated.

category

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A distinction is made here according to animal category, i.e. age , gender and castration .

category	designation	description
veal	V	Meat with veal characteristics, the carcasses of which are cut as calves (up to 8 months)
Young beef	Z	Meat from other adult males and females (less than 12 months old)
Young bull meat	A.	Meat from adult, young, male, uncastrated animals of less than two years of age
Bull meat	B.	Meat from other adult, male, uncastrated animals
Ox meat	C.	Meat from adult, male, castrated animals
Cow meat	D.	Meat from adult females that have already calved
Heifers	E.	Meat from adult females that have not yet calved

Meatiness

This is about muscle size.

Conformation class	description
S.	All profiles extremely convex; Exceptional muscular abundance with double muscling (double tender), this class does not exist in Germany
E.	All profiles convex to super convex; exceptional muscle volume
U	Profiles as a whole convex; very good muscular volume
R.	Profiles generally straight; good muscle fullness
O	Profiles straight to concave; average muscle size
P	All profiles concave to very concave: little muscle volume

Fat class

The extent to which the carcass is covered with fat is assessed.

Fat class	description	additional rules
5	Carcasses completely covered with fat; strong deposits of fat in the chest cavity	The leg is almost completely covered with a thick layer of fat so that the fat strands are no longer visible: In the chest cavity, the muscles between the ribs are pervaded by fat.
4th	Muscles covered with fat; but still partially visible on the club and shoulder; some distinct fat deposits in the chest cavity	Protruding fat strands of the leg. In the chest cavity, the muscles between the ribs can be streaked with fat.
3	Muscles covered with fat almost everywhere with the exception of the leg and shoulder; slight fat deposits in the chest cavity	In the chest cavity, the muscles between the ribs are still visible.
2	light fat coverage; Muscles visible almost everywhere	In the chest cavity, the muscles between the ribs are clearly visible.
1	no to very little fat coverage	No fat deposits in the chest cavity.

Importance for the consumer

The knowledge of the commercial class offers the buyer of ( beef ) meat important information about the quality and taste properties. These do not only depend on the breed or the mast . The fat class also indirectly shows how much the meat is streaky. This characteristic in turn also depends on the category: a heifer has a finer grain than a bull or a calf. Well-run butcher shops can prove the commercial class to the customer by means of a stamp or label . However, the label according to the Beef Labeling Act must be distinguished from this. There is only information about the origin of the meat, in particular about the place of birth, fattening, slaughtering and cutting.

Web links

• Information on meat classification from the German Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food

Individual evidence

1. ↑ rindhklv
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Regulation (EU) No. 1308/2013 in the consolidated version of January 1, 2018 (see Annex IV / Part II. Categories, p. 190 and Annex VII, Part I, p. 196)
3. ↑ ^{a b} Ordinance on legal trade classes for beef , State Office for the Food Industry and Hunting North Rhine-Westphalia, 2004
4. ↑ § 1 HKlV cattle