Cl. Lorenzen et al., NATIONAL BEEF QUALITY AUDIT - SURVEY OF PRODUCER-RELATED DEFECTS AND CARCASS QUALITY AND QUANTITY ATTRIBUTES, Journal of animal science, 71(6), 1993, pp. 1495-1502
To assess the then-current population of fed beef cattle for quality d
efects, the federally inspected beef steer and heifer slaughter in 28
packing plants was surveyed during a 3-mo period (October to December
1991). Data were collected over the course of 1 d of production at cha
in speed. Carcasses were selected randomly to include 50 and 10% of ea
ch lot on the slaughter floor and in the cooler, respectively. Slaught
er floor defects evaluated were brand location and size, degree of bru
ising, grubs and injection sites, condemnation of offal, and the prese
nce of mud and horns. USDA grade factors and other data were collected
in the cooler. The distribution of hot-iron brand sears on the hide f
or the sample was as follows: cattle with no brand, 55.0%; cattle with
butt brands, 29.9%; cattle with side brands, 13.8%; and cattle with s
houlder brands, .8%. In addition, 83.3, 85.6, 76.6, 97.3, 99.9, and 99
.8% of the carcasses had no superficial bruising in the chuck, rib, lo
in, round, brisket, and other areas of the carcass, respectively. The
incidence of viscera condemnations for livers, lungs, tripe, and total
viscera were 19.2, 5.1, 3.5, and .1%, respectively. Means for the car
cass traits were as follows: USDA yield grade, 3.1; hot carcass weight
, 344.7 kg; adjusted fat thickness, 1.5 cm; longissimus muscle area, 8
3.4 cm2; kidney, pelvic, and heart fat, 2.2%; USDA quality grade, high
Select; marbling score, Small-minus; and overall maturity, A69.