Australian Angus Beef - Standards

In the early 1990's the Australian Beef Industry investigated declining consumption and after research found that a major contributing factor was the variations of eating quality of cooked beef.

The challenge was to identify the eating quality of beef before it was sold to the consumer.

Unlike the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) beef standards which grade the beef on the degree of marbling and age of the animal at slaughter.

The Australian beef standards are set by a meticulously monitored consumer response system.

What was found after extensive research under the Australian beef industry's Eating Quality Assurance (EQA) program, was that the consumer expectation of eating quality was basically the same the world over.

With this score sheet Meat Standards Australia (MSA) established a meat grading system based on a meat quality score (MQ4) . This score is a numeric representation of the customers rating of a piece of beef.

Tenderness 40%
Juiciness 10%
Flavor 20%
Overall liking 30%
MQ4 (meat quality score) 100%

Beef graded EQA must have a MQ4 score of at least 46 guaranteeing "good everyday quality".

The Australian Angus Beef benefits from the EQA program by not only factoring the standard of the beef from the primary producer but also taking into account the the processes of transport, slaughter, chilling and even cooking of the end product.