Henry Saglio, who helped make poultry the most popular meat in America when he slashed production costs by breeding a meatier bird that matured quickly and laid more eggs, died Dec. 13 at a nursing home in Connecticut. He was 92.
“He is the father of the poultry industry,” said Frank Perdue, chairman of the executive committee at Perdue Farms. “He put so much time and focus into this that even a year ago he was still coming up with ideas.
Using a small coop fashioned from an old piano, he began raising chickens while growing up on a fruit and vegetable farm in rural Connecticut.
His interest in breeding started when a friend said he wanted white-feathered chickens.
Mr. Saglio soon bred a flock of completely white-feathered chickens, and went on to breed White Rocks that had extra meat, reached maturity quickly and laid more eggs. The bird was a hit.
He then transformed his parents’ farm, Arbor Acres, into what became a leader in poultry genetics for four decades. With operations in 21 countries, the company helped set off a poultry boom that sharply increased the meat’s popularity and made it one of the least expensive meats.
“Back then chicken was probably the most expensive meat you could buy,” said Richard Lobb, a spokesman for the National Chicken Council in Washington, which Mr. Saglio helped found in 1954. “Most people only ate it occasionally, like one night a week.”
Today, the Department of Agriculture says, chicken consumption in the U.S. is about 82.1 pounds per person per year, well above that of beef. In the early 1960s, Lobb said, Americans ate 28 pounds per person.
