well as efficiency The result was the popular label rouge, or “red label,” which identifies chickens that have been produced according to specific standards: they are slow-growing varieties, fed primarily on grain rather than artificially concentrated feeds, raised in flocks of moderate size and with access to the outdoors, and slaughtered at 80 or more days of age rather than 40 to 50 Red-label chickens are leaner and more muscular than their standard industrial equivalent, lose a third less of their moisture during cooking, are firmer in texture, and have a more pronounced flavor Similar quality-based meat production schemes exist today in a number of countries USDA Beef Grades: The Triumph of Fat over Lean As economist V James Rhodes recounts, the USDA grading system for beef did not arise from an objective government analysis of meat quality Instead, it was conceived and pushed during an agricultural recession in the early 1920s by cattlemen in the Midwest and East, who wanted to boost demand for their purebred, fat, corn-fed animals at the expense of lean dairy and “scrub” cattle The chief propagandist was Alvin H Sanders, editor of the Breeder’s Gazette, who colorfully denigrated the slow cooking of economical cuts as “the same old continental European story of how to make a banquet out of a few bones and a dash of ‘cat-meat.’” Sanders and his colleagues set out to convince the country that “the muscular tissues of animals are made tender and fully flavored only by the presence of plenty of fat.” In the summer of 1926, a well-placed breeder and New York financier named Oakleigh Thorne personally tutored the Secretary of Agriculture, who soon offered to begin free quality grading — based on the amount of ... fat, corn-fed animals at the expense of lean dairy and “scrub” cattle The chief propagandist was Alvin H Sanders, editor of the Breeder’s Gazette, who colorfully denigrated the slow cooking of economical cuts as ? ?the same old continental European... story of how to make a banquet out of a few bones and a dash of ‘cat-meat.’” Sanders and his colleagues set out to convince the country that ? ?the muscular tissues of animals are made tender and. .. flavored only by the presence of plenty of fat.” In the summer of 1926, a well-placed breeder and New York financier named Oakleigh Thorne personally tutored the Secretary of Agriculture, who soon offered to begin free