Abstract. Since 2002, and every four to six years, the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INIA) and the National Meat Institute (INAC) have been conducting the "meat quality audit" for the beef chain. The aim of the audits, since its inception, is to provide the meat chain with a significant set of indicators and measures regarding the quality of the cattle, as well as the beef all its sub-products, going through all the links of the chain, from the farm to the consumer. The final objective was to determine and quantify the main factors that could be responsible for the potential loss of value along the chain due to inefficiencies occurring at some critical points of the chain.