Thursday, January 25, 2024 @ 3PM ET RGP Pilot Informational Webinar

Recording: Remote Grading Pilot for Beef

Peanuts 64 FR 20105: Peanut Promotion, Research, and Information Order: 07/29/1999

On November 8, 2023, USDA announced its intent to clarify that meat products must be from animals that are born, raised, and slaughtered in the U.S. to meet the domestic origin requirements for purposes of USDA purchasing. AMS procures food products of domestic origin for use in nutrition assistance programs and regularly evaluates the effectiveness of its food purchase programs. Upon review, the guidelines for procuring beef, pork, lamb, and bison products were not as clear as other commodities.

For more information on USDA Meat Grading Service eligibility, participation requirements for the Remote Grading Program for Beef (RGP), and how to get started, refer to the RGP Guide to Getting Started (pdf)

For the purposes of the RGP, the following document serves to guide the roles and responsibilities of the Applicant and USDA.

Before contacting the AMS Livestock and Poultry Program (AMS-LP) about the Remote Grading Program for Beef (RGP), it is important to understand what official quality grading and certification is and consider whether these voluntary fee-based services are applicable to your meat packing operation and how they may benefit your marketing objectives. The following resources may assist with these considerations:

Law: Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946

Matching imaging technology with robust data management and program oversight, USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) developed a process for determining the official quality grading and certification of carcass beef from a remote location.

• View the description of projects funded in FY2024 (pdf)
• View the OMDG FY 2024 Public Dataset (xlsx) Updated January 8th, 2025.