There are two official beef grading systems in Australia – Meat Standards Australia (MSA) and AUS-MEAT systems.
Both methods have a similar grading methodology where key attributes such as marbling, carcase weight, P8 fat depth, dentition, ossification, pH, meat colour, fat colour and eye muscle are used to determine the score.
Likewise, both methods use a grading score of 1 to 9. Only the highest score of 9+ has a ‘+’ to it. This is given to beef meat with top-notch marbling. Below 9+, will be numbers without the ‘+’. Scores of 8 and 9 will mean that the meat is of excellent quality.
Below is a pictorial illustration of the Australia WAusaagyu Grades.