Australian ag-tech company, MEQ, has achieved US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification for its MEQ Camera V2 Technology for accurately and precisely measuring the yield and quality of beef.
Meat grading is used to measure the quality and yield of beef during processing, and is a key determinant of price across the supply chain, from farm to fork. It has traditionally relied on a visual assessment or 2D imagery to evaluate key attributes such as marbling, meat and fat colour and fat depth.
New objective measurement technology, such as video and data from 3D cameras enhanced by AI models, is driving accuracy and repeatability and bringing greater consistency to the grading process.
Source: MEQ
The MEQ Camera is the first video technology to be awarded USDA certification for beef grading, and first technology of any type to be certified in over 15 years. As a USDA-certified technology, the MEQ Camera can now be used to officially grade the quality of beef, allowing the digitisation of a key process within the US$108 billion US beef processing sector.
The certification comes under the USDA’s instrument augmented beef grading program after an extensive trial process which saw more than 10,000 carcasses analysed between June 2024 and May 2025. It approves the MEQ Camera for the prediction of Official Beef Marbling Score, Ribeye Area, Preliminary Yield Grade and Yield Grade.
MEQ CEO, Remo Carbone, said earning USDA certification is a major milestone, not just for MEQ but for the entire US beef industry.
“It validates the MEQ Camera’s accuracy, consistency, and real-world application for meat quality grading at scale,” said Carbone.
“This certification reinforces our global vision to bring greater objectivity, transparency, and value to the red meat supply chain through data and innovation. We are incredibly grateful to the USDA for working closely with us to reach this stage. This is the start of great things to come for MEQ in the US.”
The MEQ Camera is powered by 12 independent machine learning AI models and is the first solution to use video to grade the quality of meat, enhancing its integrity over still image solutions.
It consists of a smartphone application and an integrated 3D depth camera that provides a 3D model of the animal in real time in both video and 3D imagery. It has already been deployed by a number of US processors, including Sustainable Beef in North Platte, Nebraska.
In 2023, MEQ partnered with technology company, Siemens, to incorporate the MEQ Camera and other solutions into its automation and industrial computing platforms, aiming to co-develop high-value meat quality applications for the red meat industry. The company also worked with the Australian Wagyu Association to develop collaborative, objective carcase measurement and transformative data utilisation throughout the Wagyu supply chain.
