"Paul & Robin Barrett" > wrote in message
mmunications...
> There is a store advertising locally, selling "Montana grass-fed beef
> steaks." They are touted as being very lean, which I can imagine as being
> grass-fed, but are also advertised as "USDA Prime." I thought Prime
> required substantial marbling of fat. Is it possible for beef to be Prime
> and also very lean?

As a beef producer in Australia, I found your question to be very
interesting but since have no idea of how the USDA grades beef, I had a very
interesting tour of sites dealing with this issue. I found this one:
http://www.beefresearch.org/CMDocs/B...%20Grading.pdf
Whihc says that the marbling on USDA Prime would be 'slightly abundant'.

I'd be asking the store selling this beef about the breed involved as that
can have an impact on marbling eg Wagyu are one breed that marbles better
than say Hereford. Eyeball the meat and if you like the look of it, try
some.