USDA certification for Aussie agtech firm MEQ

Australian agtech company MEQ has achieved US Department of Agriculture (USDA) certification for its MEQ Camera V2 Technology for measuring the yield and quality of beef. 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$108bn US beef processing sector.

The MEQ Camera is claimed to be 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. 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.

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 designed to drive accuracy and repeatability to bring better consistency to the grading process.

Remo Carbone, CEO MEQ, said: “This certification reinforces our global vision to bring greater objectivity, transparency and value to the red meat supply chain through data and innovation.”

The camera is powered by 12 independent machine learning AI models and uses video to grade the quality of meat. 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.