Wagyu Beef

Updated

What does "A5 Beef" mean?

If you love to eat delicious beef, or if you are interested in sophisticated cuisines, surely you have heard about "Wagyu" or "Wagyu beef" before. However, you might not know well about Wagyu. What does it mean "Wagyu"? What is "A5 Beef"? Is it the same meat Wagyu sold in the US and Wagyu in Japan? If you want to know the right answers, let’s read the articles below!

What does

What does "Wagyu" mean?

What does

Wagyu means cattle that qualify all of the conditions below.

  • The cattle must be breeds which are approved by Japanese Fair Competition Codes for Meat.
  • The cattle must be born and bred in Japan.
  • The cattle must be registered on the traceability system.

Wagyu in the US

Today, you can often see "Wagyu beef" at your local supermarket. However, in most case, this is Wagyu bred outside Japan. That includes Wagyu raised outside Japan and crossbreeds between Wagyu and other breeds and almost all of Wagyu beef in the US is the meat of cross breeds. There is no qualification except above, so the quality of the meat is not guaranteed.

Why is Wagyu delicious?

Why is Wagyu delicious?

When breeds of Wagyu grow fat, their meats tend to become marbled more easily than other breeds. This makes Wagyu beef softer and has a richer taste than others.

In addition, each brand has a high standard of certification, so the quality of the meat is guaranteed.

What is more, each breeder raises their cattle with longer time than usual, in their own unique methods. For example, some breeders give their cattle beer (to increase their appetite) and massage them (to average their fat in their muscle).

Why is Wagyu expensive?

Why is Wagyu expensive?

There are three reasons why Wagyu beef is expensive.

First, the cost of copulation is higher than normal cattle.
Second, the term of breeding is longer than normal cattle. In the US, the term is usually 15~18 months. However, in the case of Wagyu in Japan, the term is usually more than 28 months! This difference makes Wagyu beef expensive.
Third, some kinds of Wagyu such as Kobe Beef and Matsusaka Beef have already been established as a brand.

Because of these factors, authentic Wagyu beef is much more expensive than others.

What does "A5 Beef" mean?

In Japan, all of beef is ranked by two grades below.

  • Yield grade
  • This grade shows the percentage of meat in a certain body of cattle. "A" is the best and "C" is the worst.
  • Meat quality grade
  • This grade shows the quality of meat. The grade depends on the degree of marbling, gloss, and fineness of texture of meat, in addition to the degree of color and quality of fat. "5" is the best and "1" is the worst.
Meat Quality Grade
  5 4 3 2 1
Yield Grade A A5 A4 A3 A2 A1
B B5 B4 B3 B2 B1
C C5 C4 C3 C2 C1

Therefore, as you can see in the table above, the highest grade is "A" + "5" = "A5". If you find "A5 Wagyu beef" on a menu at a restaurant, that means the highest-graded Wagyu beef!

Now that you know the basics about Wagyu, why not join one of Japan Deluxe Tour's fully-guided vacations and taste authentic A5 Wagyu beef during our Cherry Blossom Japan Tours or Highlights Japan vacation packages.

Wagyu Beef | Related Travel Experiences

Yakiniku

Yakiniku

Grilled Meat - Japanese barbecue

Teppan-yaki Dining

Teppan-yaki Dining

Teppanyaki is a style of Japanese cuisine using an iron griddle to cook foods like okonomiyaki, yakisoba, & Japanese Kobe Beef.

Shabu-shabu

Shabu-shabu

Japanese hot pot with vegetables and thinly sliced meat

Sukiyaki

Sukiyaki

Japanese hot pot in a stew made from soy sauce, sugar, and mirin

Gyudon

Gyudon

Japanese Beef Bowl

Beef Bun<br>(JDT Recommends)

Beef Bun
(JDT Recommends)

Steamed Chinese buns filled with Beef

Bento

Bento

Meals often packed in a box-like container

Jingisukan

Jingisukan

Popular Japanese Lamb Barbecue

Need Assistance? Call: USA/Canada 1-800-285-2726 Australia (02) 8006 4411 Contact Us Brochure