The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) today announced the current U.S. Standards for Grades of Pork Carcasses will not be revised at this time. U.S. Grade Standards like those for pork provide producers, businesses and consumers a uniform way to identify the quality, yield or value of a commodity, which facilitates the fair marketing of U.S. agricultural products. AMS works with stakeholders to establish and revise U.S. grade standards for nearly 240 agricultural products.
During the comment period for proposed changes to the standards, a broad range of stakeholders expressed a variety of concerns and questions regarding whether the changes would provide any additional value for processors or consumers. There was particular concern over how proposed changes could be implemented within existing the production and processing environment. Based on the stakeholder input, AMS has determined that no changes will be made to the pork standards at this time.
For more information contact David Bowden, Standardization Branch Chief at (202) 690-3148 or at David.Bowden@ams.usda.gov. For more information visit the AMS voluntary Grades and Standards webpage.
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