PSMO is IMPS 189A: a whole beef tenderloin, peeled, with the side muscle on. Peeled means the surface fat and the wing fat are off. Side muscle on means the chain, the thin muscle that runs along the side of the tenderloin, is still attached. It is the tenderloin most of the trade buys, and it is the only one USDA prices every day.
The 189 and 190 family
Every item in the family is the same whole tenderloin, butt end to tail. What changes is how much fat, side muscle and silver skin the plant takes off before it goes in the box. Each step makes the piece lighter and puts more of the trimming on the plant instead of your bench.
| IMPS | What it is | Weights (lb) |
|---|---|---|
| 189 | Full tenderloin, fat trimmed to ¾ inch | 4-5, 5-6, 6-7, 7-up |
| 189A | PSMO: surface and wing fat off | 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-up |
| 189B | Surface fat off, wing fat can stay | 3-4, 4-5, 5-6, 6-up |
| 190 | A 189A with the side muscle off | 2-3, 3-4, 4-up |
| 190A | A 190 with the silver skin off | 2-3, 3-4, 4-up |
| 190B | Center-cut barrel: a 190A minus butt and tail | Under 2, 2-up |
The wing fat is the fat between the main body of the tenderloin and the wing, the small muscle at the butt end. The 190B is the piece that portions straight into filets, and IMPS itself calls it the barrel.
What USDA's tenderloin price is
The daily boxed beef report carries one tenderloin line, "Loin, tndrloin, trmd, heavy." USDA codes it 189A at fat option 4, practically free of fat, and its guide to the report sets heavy at 5 lb and up. So the USDA tenderloin price is a heavy PSMO price. It is also, on average, the priciest line on the report: over 2016 to 2025 the heavy Choice tenderloin printed above the heavy boneless ribeye on 97 percent of days.
Two things are missing, and both catch buyers. There is no light tenderloin: USDA last printed one in June 2002, so anything under 5 lb has no daily benchmark of its own. And there is no 190 on the steer and heifer report at all. USDA prints side-muscle-off tenderloins only on its cow report, in weights from 2-3 lb up to 5-up, and a cow tenderloin comes from a different animal, so it is no benchmark for a fed-beef 190.
Pricing a 190 against the PSMO print
A 190 quote is the PSMO price plus the trimming. The plant pulls the side muscle, ships you fewer pounds, and sells the side muscle elsewhere. The gap between a 190 quote and the USDA PSMO line is a price for labor and yield, the same logic as a close-trimmed strip loin. Ask the packer what yield the quote assumes, and compare the gap to what the same trim costs on your own bench.
When it costs the most
The tenderloin is a holiday roast, and the prints show it. Measured against the Choice cutout, so a rally in the whole market cannot pass for a tenderloin season, the heavy Choice tenderloin ran above its own yearly average in December in all 10 years from 2016 to 2025, and in October and November in 9 of the 10. The soft stretch is late spring and summer: June ran above its yearly average in just 1 of the 10.
The grade matters less here
The tenderloin is tender at any grade, and the market pays less for marbling here than anywhere else in the middles. Over the five years to August 2026, Choice PSMO printed a median 6 percent over Select, against 17 percent for the heavy boneless ribeye and 28 percent for the boneless strip. Choice even printed under Select on about one day in seven. Trading down to Select saves less on the tenderloin than on any other middle.