Counterfeit Foods: Wagyu Beef

There is perhaps no more famous type of beef than wagyu. The Japanese beef is widely considered the creme de la creme when it comes to all things bovine, with the highest grades costing up to $200 per pound, according to Business Insider. All that cost is for good reason, as real wagyu is a genuine treat for steak lovers with marbling unlike any other type of beef. Yet the high cost the meat demands — mixed with a general confusion outside of Japan about what, exactly, “wagyu” is — means that there are also plenty of businesses out there peddling fake wagyu.

As Mashed reports, true wagyu from Japan is rare thanks to strict regulations and both global and domestic demand. The name recognition is undeniable, however, and it seems to appear on menus across the United States. Some of the wagyu sold is real, some of it, though, may have misleading labeling and be entirely fake. Here’s how you can tell if your wagyu beef is fake, and why it garners so much attention from consumers and those who try to capitalize on wagyu’s popularity.

What makes a cut of Beef, Wagyu?

The first thing you need to know is that there is no one wagyu. In Japanese, “wagyu” literally translates to Japanese cow. Just like how some countries classify wine and cheese by region, Japan differentiates its beef by region — and there are many types with slightly different regulations, according to Japan’s governmental travel resource. Also like regionally designated wines and cheeses, the production of certain types of wagyu is limited to a certain area. As Champagne can only come from Champagne, France, certain wagyu can only come from certain parts of Japan.

The most well-known type of wagyu in America is Kobe. Kobe beef comes from the region around the city of Kobe in Hyogo Prefecture. The cows are fed rice and corn, and the meat is known for its sweetness and marbling. Ohmi from the Shiga Prefecture is another famous wagyu with a fine grain, and it was once given medicinally in the 1800s to the shogun ruling class before beef became widely available. And then there’s Matsusaka Ushi, which comes from Matsusaka City in Mie Prefecture. The cows there are fed beer and given intense care for a high fat-to-meat ratio.

While those three are the most famous, they aren’t the only types of wagyu. There’s Yonezawagyu from Yamagata Prefecture, Hitachigyu from Ibaraki Prefecture, Kazusa from Chiba Prefecture, Miyazakigyu from Miyazaki Prefecture, Kumamoto Akaushi from Kumamoto Prefecture, and others.

Japanese Wagyu vs. American Wagyu or “Wangus”

Even though wagyu translates to Japanese cow, not all Japanese cows make it into the classification. Only four breeds get that special designation, according to the American Wagyu Association: Japanese Black, Japanese Brown (also called Red Wagyu in the U.S.), Japanese Polled, and Japanese Shorthorn. Japan makes sure their cow breeds remain the way they are, and progeny testing (meaning testing the parents of each animal) is mandatory to keep the genetic line perfect. The most sought after types of wagyu — Matsusaka Ushi, Kobe, and Ohmi — all come from Tajima beef, which is a subspecies of Japanese Black from Hyogo Prefecture.

The Wagyu Shop notes that breeders in Japan do in fact do everything they can to make each cow’s life as stress-free as possible. They get a high-energy diet and have plenty of safe space so they don’t burn fat and develop too many muscles. Breeders control the noise, supply clean water, separate animals that fight, and monitor the animals multiple times a day, according to Robb Report.

While Japanese imported wagyu is the surest way to know it’s the real stuff, there is an American version. According to Oklahoma State University’s agriculture department, two Tottori Black wagyu and two Kumamoto Red wagyu bulls were imported to the U.S. in 1976. Then, in 1993, five Tajima cows (two male, three female) were brought in, and 35 more cattle of various Japanese bloodlines made it to American farms in 1994.

Unlike the cows in Japan that were carefully kept apart to make sure the bloodlines stayed the same, the wagyu in the States were crossbred with angus cattle. This has led to the nickname “wangus”. According to Robb Report, American wagyu is heavily marbled, but lacks the same consistency, marbling, and flavor as the Japanese wagyu that’s so heavily regulated.

American crossbreeding is more of an availability issue than anything else. George Owen, executive director of the American Wagyu Association, told Food & Wine that most full-breed wagyu is used for breeding because there are so few of them.

How to tell if your Wagyu Beef is the Real Thing By the Label

When it comes to wagyu, the label may be more than a little misleading. In the mid-2010s, some of New York City’s most famous steakhouses and restaurants were listing “Kobe” wagyu beef on their menus. An investigation by Inside Edition brought one problem to light, however: places like Old Homestead Steakhouse and Le Bernardin weren’t serving true Kobe wagyu beef like what was listed on the menu. The restaurant brand McCormick & Schmick’s was doing the same, and it had to settle a class-action lawsuit because of it.

The problem comes down to labeling regulations set by the United States Department of Agriculture. The law states that beef only has to have 46.9 percent wagyu genetics to sell as wagyu at retail, according to Bon Appetit, and the rest can be angus. Restaurants don’t have to listen to these labeling regulations at all and can call whatever beef they wish wagyu. This makes wading through wagyu beef labels like walking through the Wild West of questionable information.

If you’re looking to make sure you’re definitely getting the real thing, look for “from Japan” on the label. Kobe wagyu that doesn’t say “from Japan” isn’t actually Kobe. As Larry Olmsted writes for Bon Appetit, if you’re not in one of the few restaurants certified to sell the imported Kobe beef, “simply assume any Kobe beef claim is a lie, especially ‘Kobe’ burgers and hot dogs.”

How to tell if your Wagyu Beef is the Real Thing By the Look

All of the fat that makes wagyu so desirable gives an umami sweetness to the beef. It also adds a very distinctive quality that is noticeable right off the bat even before you get a taste (if you get to have a taste at all): it’s riddled with white webs of fat. In fact, instead of the deep, iron-red color that you’re probably used to seeing, wagyu can come off slightly pink because of the different ratio of white fat and red meat.

Another giveaway that you can tell just from the sight is that wagyu beef imported from Japan is always boneless, according to Real Simple. That makes it an easy spot compared to all the T-bone, rib eyes, strip steaks, and other bone-in cuts sold on the meat aisle of the grocery store or butcher shop.

According to Bon Appetit, these are the things to look for when seeking a true piece of wagyu: evenly dispersed fat (dots, a spider web, or thin veins are all apt comparisons) and a “uniformly pink” color that showcases an integrated ratio of meat and fat. Don’t assume wagyu is all that bad for you just because of its high fat content, either. Wagyu has a high level of unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid making it slightly healthier with the added bonus of having a melting point that’s lower than the standard human body temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.


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