MSA beef

MSA beef is a grading program designed to guarantee tenderness.

All MSA graded beef is labelled with a guaranteed grade and recommended cooking method to identify the eating quality according to consumers. All participants in the program are licensed to use the MSA trademark and certify products via an approved Quality Management System in accordance with the MSA Standards Manual.

Grading

MSA certified graders collate information from the producer, supervise processing standards and collect individual carcase attributes using a uniform set of standards. Results are allocated to an individual carcase and include:

• Individual primal quality grades
• Days of ageing required
• Recommended cooking method
  
  

Becoming an MSA registered beef producer

Beef producers can become part of the MSA program by completing a MSA registration form. You must be registered with LPA to become an MSA registered beef producer. If you are not registered with LPA register now.

Producers wanting to become part of the MSA program can find out more from the following publications:

• MSA beef information kit
• MSA beef
• Buy and sell MSA cattle

Managing cattle treated with growth promotants

Growth promotants are supplements of naturally occurring hormones used by some producers to increase weight gain and improve feed conversion efficiency.

Key points to consider include:

• Growth promotants can have an effect on eating quality.
• The effect varies across different muscles.
• The effect can be managed utilising the MSA pathways eg ageing and utilising the tenderstretch hang method.
• Cattle treated with growth promotants are eligible for MSA grading.
  
  

How will cattle grade?

Using growth promotants will not exclude cattle from MSA grading, but it may affect the MSA grade assigned to the different cuts in the carcase.

The MSA grade assigned to each cut is determined by a combination of factors that affect eating quality. Some factors, such as marbling and carcase weight, have a positive impact on eating quality, while other factors such as increased maturity (measured by ossification in the MSA grading model) have a negative impact on eating quality. Using growth promotants reduces marbling and increases ossification.

The impact of growth promotants on eating quality differs between cuts. The impact is greatest on the striploin and cube roll, there is an intermediate impact on the rump and topside and other cuts are less affected.

How can grading outcomes be improved when using growth promotants?

There are several options for mitigating the effect of growth promotants on eating quality. While growth promotants affect marbling and ossification, selecting animals that will reach slaughter weight earlier or have a higher propensity to marble can help offset the growth promotant effect. This is most effective if the animals have consistent access to good quality feed.

There are two principal post-slaughter management procedures that can be utilised to improve the eating quality of animals treated with growth promotants:

1. Increase the ageing period - this is most effective on cuts which are more responsive to ageing eg the striploin.

2. Use the tenderstretch method of hanging carcases - this has a positive impact on eating quality.
   
   

Positive impacts of ageing and tenderstretch on beef treated with growth promotants

The example below demonstrates how these two management practices deliver an outcome where all the typical grilling cuts grade MSA.

This information is based on a carcase with the following characteristics: 250kg male, 260 ossification, MSA marble 280, 38% tropical breed content; meat colour 1c, rib fat 7mm, pH 5.55, loin temp 7.0 and cooking method grill.

More information

• MSA beef information kit

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