Grades of Butter
- U.S. Grade AA. U.S. Grade AA butter conforms to the following: Possesses a fine and highly pleasing butter flavor. May possess a slight feed and a definite cooked flavor. It is made from sweet cream of low natural acid to which a culture (starter) may or may not have been added. The permitted total disratings in body, color, and salt characteristics are limited to onehalf (½). For detailed specifications and classification of flavor characteristics see Table I, and for body, color, and salt characteristics and disratings see Table II.
- U.S. Grade A. U.S. Grade A butter conforms to the following: Possesses a pleasing and desirable butter flavor. May possess any of the following flavors to a slight degree: Acid, aged, bitter, coarse, flat, smothered, and storage. May possess feed flavor to a definite degree. The permitted total disratings in body, color, and salt characteristics are limited to one-half (½), except, when the flavor classification is AA, a disrating total of one (1) is permitted. For detailed specifications and classification of flavor characteristics see Table I, and for body, color, and salt characteristics and disratings see Table II.
- U.S. Grade B. U.S. Grade B butter conforms to the following: Possesses a fairly pleasing butter flavor. May possess any of the following flavors to a slight degree: Malty, musty, neutralizer, scorched, utensil, weed, and whey. May possess any of the following flavors to a definite degree: Acid, aged, bitter, smothered, storage, and old cream; feed flavor to a pronounced degree. The permitted total disratings in body, color, and salt characteristics are limited to one-half (½), except, when the flavor classification is AA, a disrating total of one and one-half (1½) is permitted and when the flavor classification is A, a disrating total on one (1) is permitted. For detailed specifications and classification of flavor characteristics see Table I, and for body, color, and salt characteristics and disratings see Table II.
- General. Butter of all U.S. grades shall be free of foreign materials and visible mold. Butter possessing a flavor rating of AA and workmanship disratings in excess of one and one-half (1½) shall be given a flavor rating only; butter possessing a flavor rating of A and workmanship disratings in excess of one (1) shall be given a flavor rating only; and butter possessing a flavor rating of B and workmanship disratings in excess of one-half (½) shall be given a flavor rating only.
Detailed standards, Inspection Instructions & Other Resources:
- U.S. Grade Standards for Butter (pdf)
- United States Sediment Standards for Milk and Milk Products (pdf)