[masukomi]

This entire article is based on a false understanding of US labeling

> "It’s true that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to find mutton"

This is false. It is difficult, if not impossible, to find something LABELED as mutton. However, US labeling allows "lamb" to actually be mostly mutton.

> With respect to the Code of Federal Regulations published Standard of Identity, USDA-FSIS does not have a specific definition for lamb, nor explicitly identify boundaries for age of animal in product labeling originating from ovine species. The only age-specific labeling claim includes the term “spring lamb” or “genuine spring lamb,” applicable only to carcasses of new-crop lambs slaughtered during the period of March and the first week of October. - https://www.sheepusa.org/blog/newsmedia-sheepindustrynews-pa...

and unsurprisingly it's more cost effective to let the animal get bigger before slaughtering it.

[reissbaker]

Yup! As I was reading the article, I was pretty surprised as it continued to not mention the vastly different labeling laws in the U.S. vs the rest of the Anglophone world. In the U.K., for example, meat labeled "lamb" legally must come from a sheep that is less than a year old. Meanwhile, U.S. "lamb" is typically 12-14 months old [1], since the U.S. has no standards on sheep meat labeling, and permits all sheep meat to be labeled as lamb. Much of the sheep meat sold in the U.S. wouldn't be legally considered "lamb" in the U.K., Australia, or New Zealand.

Meanwhile India has its own, wildly different meaning for mutton: it means goat meat. If you get an Indian "mutton curry," it'll taste really different from U.S. "lamb," but that's not because of the age of the animal — it's an entirely different species!

1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamb_and_mutton

[shellfishgene]

From the article: '“Mutton is not an accessible protein option in the US,” says Megan Wortman, executive director of the American Lamb Board, an industry group aimed at expanding the market for domestic sheep products.'

You would think she would know it actual mutton is widely available, no? Maybe it's legal to label mutton as lamb, but not done often, so finding actual mutton, labeled however, is still hard?