Meat Standards

Meat standards serve to facilitate trade, encourage high-quality production, improve profitability and protect consumer interests

With the publication of The NAMP Meat Buyer’s Guide®, NAMI is an industry leader in setting and maintaining standards for the North American meat industry.

The Meat Buyer’s Guide is based upon the Institutional Meat Purchasing Specifications (IMPS) , which are maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). NAMI leads the process by which The Meat Buyer’s Guide and IMPS are regularly updated to reflect current industry standards and practices. The IMPS are voluntary, consensus specifications.

Find out more about the Meat Buyer’s Guide here.

More Resources

Additional International Standards: UN Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)

Retail focused Standards: Uniform Retail Meat Identity Standards (URMIS)

Bovine Myology

Porcine Myology

USMEF Animated Beef Cutting Guide