Japanese Wagyu Beef

From birth until sale, ranchers give their Wagyu cattle individual names, and nurture them like a part of the family. Wagyu’s fine flavor comes from the tender, loving care that goes into their breeding.

How Wagyu are raised

Weaned soon after birth, each calf is hand-fed a milk replacer. During cold weather, some farms even provide their calves with handmade jackets. Ranchers raise their cattle in barns instead of in large-scale feedlots, and give them individual names.

Cattle are fed by whole crop silage including rice straw, wheat straw, barley straw, corns, soybean meal, barley, wheat, and barley brans, beet pulp, beer brewer’s grain, and sake brewer’s grain. This combination diet is what develops Wagyu’s iconic marbling and white-colored fat.

How Wagyu are Graded

Grading is divided into two main categories: yield grade and meat quality grade. Yield grades indicate the final meat ratio from carcass to salable partial meat, which earns either A for above average, B for average, or C for below average.

As for meat quality grading, a five-step evaluation is made on the following four criteria: marbling, color, shine of meat, firmness, texture, and fat color and shine.

Grade judgment is conducted by the combination of these two grading scales, varied in fifteen grades from A5, the best, to C1, the worst.

Proof of authenticity: Universal Japanese Wagyu Mark

In 2007, the Japanese government introduced a unified Wagyu Japanese beef logo to verify authenticity of high-quality wagyu exported around the world.

Cooking Japanese Wagyu

This buttery, silky beef offers a rich, luxurious taste derived from an abundance of fat.

Shabu Shabu

Sukiyaki

Nigiri

Yakiniku

Steak

Video Series: Innovative Japanese Wagyu Cooking

Award-winning chefs demonstrate new ways to prepare premium Japanese ingredients:

Chef Laurent Gras

Michelin-starred chef

Chef Charisse Grey, Ruben Mosquero, & Koji Terano

ThinkFoodGroup / minibar by José Andrés

Chef Nobu Yamazaki and Masaya Kitayama

Owner & Chef / Executive Chef of Sushi Taro

Chef Yuh Shimomura

Owner & Chef of Nasime

Interested in fresh Japanese Wagyu?

Interested in fresh Japanese Wagyu?