Meat Standards Australia have finally made long-awaited changes to meat labelling by adding a green and gold label for quality.
A brand new system to take the guesswork out of buying meat has come into effect just in time for Christmas.
From today you will see a green and gold label on beef which tells you the meat is guaranteed tender and juicy.
More stories from Today TonightIt's tested to the highest standards so choosing a cut is simplified.
Buying juicy, tender lamb, chicken, pork and especially beef can be pot luck.
About half the beef sold in Australia is not good eating. Old, dry, tough, enough to turn you off,
A new label has been introduced to tell you the meat you're choosing is great quality. All you have to do is choose a quality cut within your budget.
The new Meat Standards Australia stamp of approval for beef was developed with 90,000 people taste-testing more than 600,000 samples to identify the key elements in different cuts of good quality beef.
Andrew McDonald, the Super Butcher says, "There's 13 different parameters that the carcass has to pass to be able to be graded MSA and that ranges from meat and fat colour through to the different breed types, so it's a very difficult process, it's very stringent and so obviously because of that it guarantees the quality of the meat."
McDonald says the new logo takes out all the guess work so you don't waste money buying a disappointment.
"Certainly you have to trust your butcher and the good thing is though, with this it takes the guess work out, if you know you're buying MSA meat you know it's going to be good." he says.
Meat Standards Australia says one in every five beef cattle processed in Australia is graded under this system to guarantee quality consistency and good eating - 19,000 suppliers are now accredited producers.
"We measure different aspects of the carcass to make sure there's good quality eating." says qualified meat grader, Stef McGregor.
"We measure the eye muscle area the ossification where the bones are marbling the fat in the muscles Meat colour, fat colour 0 for fat has to be 3mm of rib fat it’s one is about 1 mm fat. It will give me a natural boning group between 1 and 18, the lower the boning group the better the eating. We bone to 10."
Only the higher scores earn the Meat Standards Australia logo.
"Research has shown that 50 per cent of ungraded meat doesn't eat well at all. The MSA graded meat will be a good eating experience on an everyday basis." says solicitor Norman Hunt and rural industry expert.
Hunt says the new logo doesn't incorporate the very highest and most expensive quality beef - it's for good quality meals.
"MSA has other higher grades which are better for a dinner party or for that special occasion and we need to go to a full grading system that talks about the best of the medium and the not so good. But this is a very important step on the way."
It's not only most butchers who'll display the MSA grading logo - supermarkets too.
"Aldi and Woolworths have already made a commitment to adopt it. I understand that Coles are considering it and that will be very important proved it is promoted." says Hunt.
All fresh pork is grown in Australia but processed, like hams, bacon and other smallgoods almost 80 per cent is imported.
If you want locally produced pork, look for the pink Australian Pork label.
Andrew McDonald says, "Anything with a bone out of it that has been cooked is nearly a guarantee that it's an imported product."
So if you want a guaranteed tender piece of beef, you can now look for this new label. But remember, the rest is up to you - you can have a top quality cut, but if you overcook it, it's going to be ruined
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