Canadian cuts · CBGA

Canadian beef cuts

50 cuts across 12 primals, in their native canadian naming.

Anatomy and naming

The canadian carcass

Canadian beef butchery is closely related to US conventions but uses several distinct trade names. The Canadian Beef Grading Agency (CBGA) is the Canadian counterpart to USDA, with grades A, AA, AAA and Prime corresponding loosely to USDA Select, Choice, Prime and beyond. Canadian beef trades extensively into the US market and the rest of the world; on retail labels you will see Canadian-specific names like inside round (US: top round) and hip (US: rump area).

The cut vocabulary below mirrors the CBGA grading system as it is applied to retail Canadian beef. Most US cut names are also recognized in Canadian butchery, with the regional variants noted in English equivalents.

Read the CBGA grading guide

Hover a primal below to highlight it on the chart

Grading · Canadian Beef Grading Agency

CBGA Canadian Beef Grading

CBGA grading is the Canadian Beef Grading Agency standard for assessing beef quality in Canada. It evaluates marbling, maturity, lean color, fat color, and meat texture to assign quality grades from Canada A (least marbling) to Canada Prime (highest), aligned with how the United States organizes USDA quality grades.

Canada Prime

~8 to 13% IMF

Slightly abundant marbling or higher. The Canadian equivalent of USDA Prime.

Canada AAA

~4 to 7% IMF

Small marbling at minimum. The most exported Canadian grade; analogous to USDA Choice.

Canada AA

~2 to 4% IMF

Slight marbling. Comparable to USDA Select.

Canada A

Traces of marbling. Above maturity and meat-quality minimums but minimal IMF.

Visual factors

What graders evaluate

Marbling, intramuscular fat at the ribeye, judged against CBGA reference imagery

Maturity, under 30 months for the four primary quality grades

Lean color, bright red preferred; dark cutters disqualify from upper grades

Lean texture, fine-grained preferred

Fat color and firmness, white firm fat preferred over yellow or oily fat

From a photo

How MeatGrader applies CBGA Canadian Beef Grading

MeatGrader applies the same five visual factors CBGA graders use, adapted to a retail-cut photograph. The model returns the inferred Canadian quality grade plus a per-factor breakdown, with the marbling reference frame tuned to the CBGA system rather than the USDA system. Yield grade (1 to 5) is not estimated from a retail-cut photo because it requires a whole-carcass view.

Read the universal four-factor framework

Cuts by primal