visible fat marbling — at all packing
houses subject to federal health
supervision. U.S. “Prime” beef was born in- A few years later, government-
funded studies found that heavy marbling
d o e s not guarantee either tender or
flavorful beef. But the prestige of heavily
marbled Prime beef persisted, and the
United States became one of only three
countries — the others being Japan and
Korea — to make fat content a major
criterion for meat quality.
So economic forces have conspired to
make mild, tender meat the modern norm, but
small producers of more mature, flavorful
meats, sometimes from rare “heirloom”
breeds, are finding their own profitable
market among consumers willing to pay a
premium for quality.
Meat Animals and
Their Characteristics