Dear Editor,The people running our national sheep organizations are perpetrating a crime on the American public. The system is set up so that they can sell mutton as lamb and top industry leaders have admitted that this has been happening. Do any of you every wonder where mutton is sold in the US? It’s pretty hard to find because most of it is sold as lamb. All foreign countries use dentition for determining maturity. Since the beginning of time the eruption of the first permanent teeth has been used as the standard for aging a sheep. Modern America has come up with a “better” way to determine maturity with the break joint technique which is the issue so many of us are at odds with. And the lamb industry wonders why we have an inconsistent product? When I get a chance to go to a big city from time to time I like to dine at one of those Brazilian steak houses. You know the ones that bring the meat out on a sword-like skewer and let you eat all you want. Well they all serve lamb in addition to everything else you would expect as far as quality meats are concerned. I’ve come to find out that one of them serves New Zealand lamb and the other serves American Lamb. I am ashamed to say that the most recent visit I had was to the chain that serves American Lamb and I could not eat the loin chop I was served because it was so strong with the muttony flavor most of us dislike. I am not saying that New Zealand lamb is better than American lamb I am just saying that in fact New Zealand lamb is better than American mutton. The first step to increasing consistency in American Lamb is to actually sell lamb and not mutton!Philip GlassWater Valley, TX