When embarking on their culinary careers, great chefs recognize that the key to creating delicious food is staying true to their ingredients. At the heart of these truths is, “Good in; good out.” If they put the best ingredients into cooking, they’ll get the best food out of them. But with so many product and ingredient choices at their fingertips, how can they be sure they’re picking the best quality ingredients available?
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) takes the guesswork out of that process by developing, maintaining and interpreting specific measurements of quality through U.S. standards and grades for a wide variety of agricultural products. AMS also offers voluntary services to producers and suppliers to certify products to those standards.