its production efficiency. Consumer and
producer preferences for lean beef led the
USDA to reduce its marbling requirements for
the top grades in 1965 and 1975.
The modern style of meat, then, combines
elements of the traditional styles: young like
the city meats, lean like the country meats,
and therefore both mild and easily dried out
during cooking. Cooks now face the challenge
of adapting hearty country traditions to these
finicky ingredients.
Quality Production: A French Example
There have been small but significant
exceptions to this general trend toward
producing meat as cheaply as possible. In the
1960s, the French poultry industry found that
many consumers were dissatisfied with the
standard chicken’s bland flavor and tendency
to shrink and fall off the bone when cooked.
Some producers then developed a production
scheme guided by considerations of quality as