Consumers of beef in the United States can easily confirm the quality grade of their beef purchase with the retail clerk, on the package’s label, or when perusing a restaurant’s menu. The grade conveys value, confirms expected eating experience, and often dictates price point. This was not always the case, and as we celebrate the 100th anniversary of official and regulated beef grading in America this year, I thought it would be prudent to briefly explore the foundational history of meat grading in the United States and its pioneer, Herbert W. Mumford.

Interest in meat grading coincided with public concern about the meat industry in the early twentieth century. Consumers were particularly worried about meat wholesomeness and quality, and while some of those concerns translated into tangible change such as the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906, establishing meat quality grades took a more circuitous path because it was not as sensational as meatpacking house conditions described by Upton Sinclair in The Jungle (serialized 1905; book 1906).

Well before The Jungle, it was early meat and animal scientists such as Mumford who led the charge to establish meat grading in the United States to provide value for the producers, feedyards, packers, and consumers. Born in 1871, Mumford grew up in a small rural town in Michigan and attended Albion College and Michigan Agricultural College, today Michigan State University. He helped at his family’s farm for several years before accepting an appointment at the Experiment Station at Michigan Agricultural College. In 1901, Mumford began his 37-year tenure at the University of Illinois.

In 1902, Mumford, as Chief of Animal Husbandry for the University of Illinois, published “Market Classes and Grades of Cattle with Suggestions for Interpreting Market Quotations” in July 1902. As Mumford explained, “Variations in quality, condition, weight, and age of cattle reaching the Chicago market make it necessary to establish certain classes and grades.” Mumford also believed that a grading system would function as a great equalizer for small and large cattle producers and feeders sending cattle to market, with the former having a “poor chance to learn market conditions and requirements.” As the advocate for the rural farmer, it was Mumford’s explicit goal to “aid cattle feeders and also those without experience to engage in the business of breeding or feeding beef cattle.” The importance of the classifications, Mumford continued, “will influence many to make a careful study of market conditions and lead all to look upon a study of the market as of great importance in the production of meats.”

Mumford visited the Union Stock Yards and Transit Company sometime in 1901 or early 1902 to gain knowledge about what differentiated quality cattle from lower grades. He was also assisted by the Live Stock Commission Companies and by employees of the Live Stock Journals. All entities held an interest in establishing quality grades at the stockyards because higher quality cattle married to a classification system would bring higher returns.

Mumford defined four classes of cattle including beef cattle, butcher stock, cutters and canners, stockers and feeders, and veal calves. Like today’s grading system, each class contained several different grades with the class. For example, Mumford defined beef cattle as prime, choice, good, medium, and common rough steers. Butcher stock contained similar grades of heifers, cows, and bulls. Mumford also defined two subclasses of cattle such as Texas and Western Range Cattle, along with distillers. Contained in Mumford’s publication were also 45 plates notating carcass conformation and size differences.

Several state agricultural departments and the USDA’s Office of Markets and Rural Organization appropriated Mumford’s language in 1914 to establish market classifications for beef. The outbreak of World War I emphasized the need for additional market controls and reporting, and Congress created the National Livestock Market News Service. The News Service published daily reports beginning in 1917. About the same time, the USDA, using the language created by Mumford, started to deploy grading standards for beef. This system proved useful during the wartime economy of World War I. Simply put, Congress and federal regulators did not want to repeat the same purchasing mistakes made during the Spanish-American War for American sailors and soldiers.

Beef grading standards remained quasi-official until 1924 when the USDA published grading standards in Market Classes and Grades of Dressed Beef (Department Bulletin 1246). The passage of the Agricultural Products Inspection and Grading Act standardized grades in 1924, but two years later, the standards were again revised in the Official United States Standards for Grades and Carcass Beef (publication no. 99). Some of Mumford’s language survived in the revisions, even today, making it his greatest contribution to the industry.

As for Mumford, he continued to teach at the University of Illinois and became well-known in his field. He served as the chair of the cattle commission at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904, and he helped invent the “carload lot” feeding system for cattle. His publications Beef Production (1905), Principles of Livestock Breeding (1907), and Domesticated Animals and Plants (1910) helped inform laypeople and experienced producers. Mumford eventually became dean at the College of Agriculture, and he served until his death in 1938.

Herbert W. Mumford and the Establishment of Beef Grading in the U.S.

Join for free* to continue reading.