BMS is the shared visual axis. Hanwoo, Wagyu, USDA and MSA hang different labels on the same fat — here is how to read them without mixing the systems up.
Marbling is intramuscular fat you can see. Almost every premium beef grade is, at root, a judgment about how much of it is there and how evenly it is spread.
The BMS 1–9 pictures on this atlas are the common ruler. Country systems hang their own labels on that ruler — they are not interchangeable stamps.
3 · 2 · 1 · 1+ · 1++
Korean native cattle graded on marbling, colour, firmness and maturity. 1++ is the top retail tier and sits near BMS 8–9 on the shared chart. Hanwoo flavour is as much about breed and feed as the number on the label.
A3–A5 · BMS 1–12
Yield grade (A–C) plus quality grade (1–5). A5 is high yield and top quality; the BMS score inside the quality grade is what the marble pictures show. Not all 'Wagyu' outside Japan is graded on this system.
Select · Choice · Prime
A marbling-and-maturity grade for young fed cattle. Prime is roughly the upper BMS band; Choice covers the middle; Select is leaner. It does not measure breed — Angus on the label is branding, not the grade.
MSA index + marble score
A eating-quality prediction that folds in marbling, ossification, hump height and processing factors. The marble score is familiar; the index is what retailers use to promise tenderness on the plate.
E · U · R · O · P + fat 1–5
The EU grid scores conformation (E best to P poorest) and fat cover (1 lean to 5 very fat). It is a carcass classification for trade, not a Japanese-style marble score — useful in Europe, easy to misread as “Prime”.
特级 · 优级 · 良好 · 普通
Chinese quality grades emphasise marbling, colour and maturity for domestic fed cattle. Labels vary by province and program; treat them as a local quality ladder, not a BMS number you can convert one-to-one.
Program brands + fat finish
Much Brazilian and Mercosur beef reaches export markets under packer or protocol brands rather than a single national marble stamp. Finish, hump (zebu influence) and aging matter as much as any letter on the box.
The BMS 1–9 scale, drawn rather than described. Japanese A5, Korean 1++, USDA Prime and Australian MSA all sit on this one axis, so grades from different countries can finally be compared by eye.