100% Organic!  USDA Certified!  Grade A!  We see so many different labels on food in supermarkets, and yet most of us probably have no idea what each means. But the answer’s pretty simple, and your friends at Keep Our Food Safe are here to break it down.

We’ve talked about organic foods and all the different labels we find on them, but those aren’t the only labeled products we find in stores. Take a gander at some of the items in the deli department and you’ll notice “Inspected by the USDA” or “Grade A” stickers on some of the meat.   Ever wonder what the difference is between inspection and grading? When people think about inspection and grading, they often don’t realize how different they really are. In fact, each falls under a separate program within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Under the Federal Meat Inspection Act and the Poultry Products Inspection Act, the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is required to inspect all our raw meat to make sure it’s safe and healthy to eat.  Basically, inspection of meat is mandatory, and the meat can’t be sold until it has been inspected and approved. There are state and federal agencies that perform these procedures. This includes all the meat we sell in the U.S., as well as any exported products.  The USDA labels you see on meat are placed directly on the packaged product, and indicates that the meat is safe and wholesome.

Grading, on the other hand, is done after the meat is inspected for safety, and it’s totally voluntary.  Producers and processors can ask federal graders to go one step further and evaluate the food for tenderness, juiciness and flavor. Beef grades range from prime grade -- considered by some to be the best beef on the market -- to utility grades, generally used to make processed products or ground beef.  Poultry is graded from A through C, with Grade A being top notch meat with no major flaws like discoloring or broken bones. If beef or poultry has been graded, you’ll see it on the packaging. 

Next time you see someone at the meat counter struggling to understand the food labels, help them out! Remember meat inspection is required, and grading is optional.

Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released results from a 2008 Health and Diet survey indicating that a majority of consumers do, in fact, read food labels because they are beginning to get a better understanding the role proper nutrition plays in lowering the risk of chronic diseases. According to the survey, more consumers “often read labels to determine the amount of calories, salts, vitamins or fat contained in the food products they are buying.” Choosing healthy, safe food is always music to our ears!

But the labels on food packaging can tell us more than just the nutritional content. There is another teensy little label that has a pretty big impact on food safety, especially when it comes to meat and poultry products – the expiration date.

One might think the meaning of an expiration label is self-explanatory, but this is not always the case. Actually, expiration labels are often called “dating labels” – but don’t confuse these with dinner and a movie dates. These labels are used to indicate how long your food should stay fresh.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), by reading so-called dating labels, we can learn more than the date that the meat goes bad. For example, if you own a grocery store, these labels help you and your employees determine how long to keep products like meat, eggs and cheese available for sale. And before adding a gallon of milk to their carts, shoppers can look to dating labels to see how long the milk will taste its best.

But while these labels are helpful when you’re trying to determine how long you should keep a porterhouse, it’s really important to remember these dates don’t guarantee the food is safe.