The High-Quality Cut Of Meat One Customer Found Mislabeled At Costco

Costco is well-known for having lower prices than traditional grocery stores, especially when it comes to large quantities of meat. Whether it's a prime cut being grouped in and sold as a lower grade or simply human error in labeling, Costco shoppers sometimes get very lucky with bargain basement beef prices for a quality product. One Reddit user posted photos revealing a package of ribs with a "USDA Choice" sticker attached. In fact, the Costco label also lists the beef back ribs as USDA Choice, priced at $5.49 per pound. However, the rest of the packaging is clearly embossed with the USDA Prime label printed directly on the plastic, which comes from the processing facility before Costco adds its own labels.

Another Reddit user on the thread, who claims to have worked in Costco's meat department, noted that "sometimes suppliers will throw in some prime-graded cuts in the case in order to meet demand," which could explain the mix-up. Another commenter, who claims to manage a Costco meat department, confirmed the ribs to be prime rather than choice, stating that the meat was likely received by Costco as USDA Choice and was therefore sold as such.

To fully appreciate why this might have been quite a steal for the customer, it's important to understand the grading system for beef cuts in the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) categorizes beef in three different grades: prime, choice, and select, with prime being the highest. Prime beef comes from younger cattle and has substantial marbling, making it juicy and tender, and is usually served in higher-end restaurants and steakhouses. Prime is also the most rare category, with only about 2% of U.S. beef achieving this grade.

Choice beef features a decent amount of marbling in the meat, meaning it will usually be more tender than a select cut and can be seared or braised. Select beef is usually leaner, with less fat marbling throughout the cut. This means that it's likely to be less tender and is great for slow-cooking and marinating.

It's worth noting that select and choice are not necessarily bad cuts on their own, but prime is typically the most desirable and most expensive. While these three grades are the highest, there are lower grades of meat, but those are usually sold as ground beef or used for commercial processing. Interestingly, this isn't the first time that Costco has mislabeled its meat, but it's usually to the customer's benefit, with an upgraded cut or category of meat being sold at a lower price rather than overcharging for subpar meat.

The internet has no shortage of Costco customers showing off their lucky mislabeled meat finds, including one Redditor whose father-in-law scored a large rack of choice beef ribs for only $0.04 because the weight was labeled incorrectly. Likewise, another Reddit user was able to snag cuts of beef tenderloin that were mislabeled as ground beef, and yet another Redditor posted a photo of thinly cut choice ribeyes being labeled and sold as pork belly for $4.49 per pound. On rare occasions, eagle-eyed shoppers may just walk away with a prime score.