In USDA's daily report, a denuded top round is the inside round with the surface fat peeled off but the cap muscle still on (IMPS 169). Cap off (IMPS 169A) takes the cap and the soft side muscles off too. That is why the cap off item prints above the denuded item nearly every day. It reads backwards to anyone who has bought a fully denuded top round from a fabricator. Here are the three USDA specs, in order of how much work has been done.
The three specs
| USDA item | IMPS | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Top inside round | 168 | The whole inside round off the leg: main muscle, adductor, cap, soft side muscles, fat and membrane all on |
| Top inside, denuded | 169 | Item 168 with the thick membrane over the cap removed and the surface fat peeled to the blue tissue. The cap and the soft side stay on |
| Top inside, cap off | 169A | Item 169 with the cap and the soft side seamed off. The spec calls it COSMO: cap off, side muscle off |
The word "denuded" in the USDA name describes the peel, not the cap. The piece is trimmed down to the blue silver skin, but the cap is still attached. A fabricator's "denuded top round" is usually that same peel done on a cap off piece, a step past 169A and not a USDA item at all.
Why cap off prints above denuded
Each step removes weight worth less than what stays. Off the 168 come the surface fat and the thick membrane. Off the 169 come the cap, a thin separate muscle, and the soft side. What is left in the cap off piece is the two lean muscles: the main muscle and the adductor beside it.
The market pays for the yield loss and the labor at each step, so the price per pound climbs down the list. In 2025 the denuded item averaged about 15 percent over untrimmed, and cap off about 18 percent over denuded. Both gaps held near the same size in 2024. A quote far outside those gaps deserves a second look at the spec.
Who buys which
The untrimmed piece is the volume line. In 2025, Choice untrimmed top rounds moved about four times the pounds of denuded, and denuded about 2.7 times the pounds of cap off. The untrimmed piece goes to plants and fabricators who can use the cap and the trim and will do the work themselves.
The USDA denuded piece has enough work done to go straight into a roast beef line that seams its own caps. The cap off piece is for buyers who want the lean muscles only and no trim line: portion cutters, deli programs that slice without seaming, distributors selling ready-to-cook lean.
What to ask for
Ask for the IMPS number, not the word. "Denuded" means one thing on the USDA sheet and another on a fabricator's price list, and the difference is the whole cap. If a supplier quotes a denuded top round against the USDA denuded print, confirm whether the cap is on. If it is off, the right benchmark is the cap off print, which sits well above it.