Meat cuts get confusing new monikers

By Amanda Hill

I came across a news story this morning from NBC’s Today Show that reported a group within the meat industry is moving toward renaming some of our favorite meat cuts in order to make them “more consumer-friendly.”

The group heading up the new meat monikers is the Uniform Retail Meat Identification Standards—URMIS, for short. They claim that consumers are confused by names of meats like rump roast, pork butt and others. So, to clarify the consumer’s choice of pork and beef, URMIS has suggested new names for more than 350 cuts in your local meat case.

What are some of the new meat monikers you might look for? If you’re planning on serving up a juicy pork chop for dinner, look instead for “Porterhouse chops,” “Ribeye chops” and “New York chops.”

Need a pork butt for your dad’s famous slow-cooked, pulled pork sandwiches? Keep an eye out for a “Boston roast” instead.

If pot roast is on the menu at your house, you’ll need to find a Denver roast—even if the cow came from right here in the Lone Star State.

I don’t know about you, but these names confuse me more than the meat cuts I’m used to buying at the grocery store. When I pull out my favorite family recipe, I’m going to look for what Mom or Grandma wrote on the recipe card—not what URMIS renamed the cut of meat.

The news story did note that the new meat monikers are voluntary and at the discretion of the grocery stores. And, like everything in our free market society, the consumer will have the final say.

I just hope I’m not the only wondering which city my meat will be named for next week.

Visit the Texas Farm Bureau website at www.texasfarmbureau.org.