USDA Beef Quality and Yield Grades
USDA Prime, USDA Choice, and USDA Select are usually identified on the label and the box. Standard and Commercial grades of beef are frequently sold as ungraded or as store brand meat and do not have to be identified as to the grade on the label or box. Retailers who do not wish to have their products graded may simply not request the grading service (fee), and they can remove the USDA grade shield from graded products.
A quality grade is an evaluation of several factors that affect palatability of meat (tenderness, juiciness, and flavor). These factors include carcass maturity, firmness, texture, and color of meat, and the amount of marbling within the meat.
The lesser grades: Utility, Cutter, and Canner grades of beef are seldom, if ever, sold at retail unless it is ground beef. These grades are usually large chunks from trimming or older, tougher animals that are strictly used to make ground beef and processed beef products.