The pork tenderloin is the psoas muscle from the inside of the loin, the small lean cylinder under the backbone. USDA's spec, IMPS Series 400 item 415, says it must come out of the loin intact, with the side muscle (the psoas minor) removed, the tail end not split more than an inch, and the whole piece practically free of fat. The spec weight range is 4 to 7 pounds and up.
It is the leanest cut on the hog and the one that cooks fastest. Retail sells it whole in a vacuum bag and as marinated and seasoned programs. Foodservice cuts it into medallions.
Four names, one muscle
USDA prints the tenderloin under four fresh names and the frozen versions of each. The muscle is the same; the pack and the program are not.
| Median print, 12 months | Printed on | Loads, 12 months | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tenderloin (bulk) | 187¢/lb | every trading day | about 595 |
| Tenderloin, frozen | 154¢/lb | 11% of days | about 16 |
| Tenderloin, 1 piece vac | 199¢/lb | 33% of days | about 9 |
| ABF tenderloin, 1 piece vac | 236¢/lb | 5% of days | about 2 |
| ABF tenderloin (bulk) | 230¢/lb | 5% of days | about 1 |
The bulk line is the market. It prints every day and carries almost all the volume. The others are small and print when a trade happens, so a one-day gap between them is noise. The medians over years are not.
The one-piece vac bag adds about 8 percent. On the days both printed over five years, the vac line sat above bulk by 8 percent at the median and was above it on 94 percent of those days. That is the packaging and the retail-ready handling, not a different muscle.
ABF adds about a fifth. The antibiotic-free lines printed 19 to 24 percent over conventional on the days they printed. Those days are few, about one in twenty, so treat the premium as the order of magnitude and not a daily number.
Frozen takes about 8 percent off. The frozen bulk line printed 8 percent under fresh at the median and above it on only a quarter of shared days. The freezer is where the fresh market's leftovers go, and the price says so.
Tender-in loins
The bone-in center-cut loin, tender-in, is just the bone-in loin with the tenderloin left inside, sold in a vac bag or fat-left-on. It prices as a loin: a five-year median of 151 cents a pound against 180 for the tenderloin. The two tender-in lines moved about 900 loads in the last twelve months and print every day.
When the tenderloin is dear
The raw price peaks in summer, like most of the pork complex. That is the carcass, not the cut. Measured against the pork carcass cutout, the tenderloin is weakest in July and August: it sat below its own year's level in both months in six of six years, by about 5 percent. It runs richest against the carcass in January and February, in most years, by 4 to 7 percent. The tenderloin is a winter and holiday roast more than a grilling cut, and against the carcass that is what the data shows.
Over the last five years the bulk line spent the middle 80 percent of its days between 152 and 216 cents a pound, with a median of 180. The low was 114 in November 2023. The high was 248 in October 2021.
Reading a quote
Friday is the heavy day. The bulk line's median Friday volume over the last two years was 3.8 loads, against 1.5 to 2.3 on the other weekdays, so a Friday print carries more trade behind it. Ask whether a quote is bulk or one-piece vac before comparing it to the USDA number, because the bag is worth 8 percent.