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![handle is hein.gao/gaobaaxnq0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
DOCUMENT RESUME
06470 - rB2067Cb6]
bepartmt-nt of Aqriculture's Beef Grading: Accuracy and
Uniformity heed 1o Be Improved. CED-78-141; B-1I368b8. July 21,
1978. 144 pP. + 5 appendices (12 pp.).
t-port to the conqress; ty Elmer 2. Staats, Ccsptrcller General.
Issue Area: Food: Grain Inspection and Commodity Grading
Proqrams (1709) .
ContAct: Community and Economic Development Div.
budqet Function: Agriculture: Agricultural Research and Services
(352).
orqanization Concerned: Department of Agriculture.
Ccnqressional Relevance: House Committee on Agriculture; Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Nutriticn, and, Forestry; Congress.
Authority: Acricilltural Marketing Act of 1946 47 U.S.C. 1621).
H.R. 12373 (95th Cong.). =7 C.F.B. 2853.
Beef qradinq pLovides a basis for price quctations
among feeders, packors, suppliers, retailers, ar-i others along
the marketing chp.in and a system for consumers to show tkeir
prererences. Fitdinqs/Ccnclusions: In 29 slaughter plants
visited by GAO, 21% of 2,215 carcasses were misgraded, and most
errors involved overgrading. Beet grading was not ccnsistent
from one sectior :)f the country to ancther. More accurate
measurements of beef carcass characteristics are needed to
correct prooleits resulting from the sutlective nature cf
qradinq. Gradinq inaccur.ic) has also resulted from management
problems. For example: a standard for grading accuracy has not
been established, stitions varied in methods of improving grader
peLformance, supervi; ;ors did not always follow grader mcnitoring
procedures, grading 1:ook place under conditions which increased
the likelihood of erLors, and packers used an infGrmal ccmFlaint
sys, m rather than a formal process fcr resolving disputed
Qrades--this could result in harassment of graders. The current
qrade standards do not fully meet the needs of the keet industry
or of consumers. Value differences are not always clear and,
because beet sold at retail is not always marked with an
ofticial qrade, beef can be represented as being of a better
quality than it actually is. Recormendaticas: The Secretary of
Agric:ulture should: establish a qrJig accuracy standard and
requ'Le *graders to meet this standard before being placed in a
plant to grade carcasses and require periodic retesting, take
steps to insure that graders do nct grade carcasses when they
cannot make an accurate determinatior because certain conditions
have not been met, require packers to use the formal appeal
system for Ledetermininj qrades and limit the use ot intorhal
dPrJeals, establish criteria on when 4ncorrect grade markings
should be corrected and insure that they are uniformly applied,
develop a public education program to increase consumer
dwdreness concerning qrades, and initiate research cL factcrs
not in current standards which may irtluence meat quality and](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaaxnq0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)