IMPS 100: The Beef Buyer's Catalog That Everyone Speaks
The Esperanto of beef
If a butcher in Omaha and a procurement manager in Dubai both refer to product "112A," they mean the same thing: a beef ribeye lip-on, boneless, trimmed to a specific fat cap, in a specific weight range. That shared vocabulary is the IMPS — the Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, maintained by USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service.
The 100 series covers fresh beef. There's a 200 series for lamb and mutton, a 400 for pork, a 600 for processed beef, and several more. Every foodservice buyer, distributor, and processor in the US — and many international ones — uses these codes as the basis for purchase orders.
What an IMPS code actually is
The structure is simple: a three-digit primal code, sometimes followed by a letter suffix that narrows the specification. A handful you'll see daily:
- 109 — Bone-In Rib, Roast-Ready (whole bone-in rib primal)
- 109A — same primal, specific roast-ready trim spec
- 109E — Export-spec rib (different trim for international shipping)
- 112A — Ribeye, Lip-On (boneless ribeye with the spinalis cap retained)
- 184B — Top Sirloin Butt, Center-Cut Boneless
- 189A — Tenderloin, PSMO (Peeled, Side Muscle On)
- 193 — Flank Steak
Behind every code there's a full item description: weight range, maximum fat thickness, packaging method, optional tenderness/marbling specs. A 112A from one plant is functionally interchangeable with a 112A from another. That's the whole point.
How a 112A becomes a sales order
A foodservice distributor opens an order: "300 cases of 112A, Choice grade, 12/14 lb avg, vacuum-sealed, deliver Thursday." Your sales rep enters it. The LP solver checks whether your current carcass mix and fab plan can produce that volume of 112A at Choice or higher by Thursday — that's Check Availability working off the IMPS code.
If feasible, the order confirms. The fab floor cuts to the 112A spec. The invoice prints "112A · Beef Ribeye Lip-On · 300 cases" — and the buyer's receiving system reads exactly the same string. No translation step, no "what did you mean by ribeye?" call.
Why MakeSheet uses IMPS codes natively
MakeSheet's yield matrix has IMPS codes as columns. Each row is a carcass type — Choice Steer 600-700 lb, for example — and each cell is the expected yield percentage of that carcass to that IMPS item. The LP solver's decision variables are quantities of each (carcass × IMPS item) combination per shift. Sales orders are in IMPS codes. Inventory is in IMPS codes. Costing rolls up by IMPS code.
The result: when a buyer calls and asks for 112A, the answer comes back in the same vocabulary. The system speaks the language of the industry — because that's the only language the industry actually uses.
