Canada 1: 59% or more of lean, usable meat

Canada 2: 54-58% of lean, usable meat

Canada 3: 53% or less of lean, usable meat

Canada B Grades (Blue ink stamp) B1: No marbling or less than 4 mm exterior fat B2: Yellow fat B3: Medium poor muscling B4: Dark meat color.

Canada D & E Grades (Brown ink stamp) principally mature animals that are used primarily for ground beef or processed products. These carcasses are generally marketed as un-graded product.

For more information about beef yield read our Beef Yield Chart.

Ground Beef Grading

Organic and Natural, wht's the difference?

With the growing popularity of organic grown food and organic raised and processed livestock the Canadian government has established strict guidelines to what constitutes organic. Currently organic produced food has annual approximate growth of 20%.

The Canadian General Standards Board has published a substantial list of substances or techniques that are forbidden in either the production or handling stages, if a product is to earn the Canada Organic label. They include:

• All materials and products produced from genetic engineering.
• Synthetic pesticides, wood preservatives or other pesticides, except as specified in CAN/CGSB-32.31.
• Fertilizer or composted plant and animal material that contains a prohibited substance.
• Sewage sludge used as a soil amendment.
• Synthetic growth regulators.
• Synthetic allopathic veterinary drugs, including antibiotics, growth hormones and parasiticides, except as specified in this standard.
• Synthetic processing substances, aids and ingredients, and food additives and processing aids including sulphates, nitrates and nitrites, except as specified in CAN/CGSB-32.311.
• Ionizing radiation and forms of irradiation on products destined for food.

Equipment, packaging materials and storage containers or bins that contain a synthetic fungicide, preservative or fumigant.

Organic farms and food processors are subject to random inspections to ensure they are conforming to the relegations. The terms “Natural Grown” and “Free Range”, or any imaginable variation of these terms, are not indicative of organic.

Farmers and food processors that wish to be become certified organic have to make an application to the government. Upon which the farm/processing facility is inspected to ensure that the standards of organic practice can be fulfilled. If the inspection is satisfactory a “Canada Organic” label will be issued.

Other Grades

Many livestock breeder associations have their own labels, designating a particular meat quality. Some animal breeds such as the Beefmaster, Angus and Hereford cattle or the Duroc pig have been bred to increase meat quality. The organizations representing such a breed of animal a justifiably proud of the breeders achievements and have come up with their own quality labels. 

However, these breeder organizations cannot use official meat quality grading standards that is not applied by the Canadian Food Agency or the Canadian Beef Grading Agency. For example here you see two labels, one for Hereford Beef (right) and another for Agnus Beef (above). Both this labels only state that it is certified Hereford beef and certified Angus beef respectively. Which means that the beef comes from those particular breeds of cattle. If it does say for example "Certified Hereford PRIME" or "Certified Angus AA" then it has to be approved by the above mentioned Government Agencies as "Prime" and "AA" or any other beef quality grading.

For mote information on organic farming visit the Government of Canada CGSB wrbsite.

More information on beef grading can be found on the weibsite of the Canadian Beef Grading Agency.