On Sat, 8 Jul 2023 19:33:48 -0400, jmcquown wrote:
> It's Wagyu beef. American "Kobe-Style" beef, whatever that means.
That means its supposed to be at least 47.5% genotyped
(genetically verified) Wagyu beef as bred from the 175 (or so)
100% fullblood live Wagyu cattle imported into the U.S. from Japan
back in the mid 80's and 90's. This was before Japan said, "Fuck
That!" and stopped exporting live Wagyu cattle declaring it a
"National Treasure".
The other 52.5% is usually phenotyped Black Angus, which we stole
from your home county - Scotland. But most of the U.S. "Black
Angus" is phenotyped ("looks like angus", not genetically verified
as opposed to genotyped. [Black] Angus cows just have to have 51%+
black hides according to the USDA - at best these would average a
mere 23.5% genetic fullblood Black Angus from Scotland.
There is no active certification process for guaranteeing your
American-Wagyu beef is at least 47.5% Wagyu breed. And I suspect
it's more like 3-20%, if at all. Farmers and consumers (like me)
have been harassing the USDA for answers and definitions on this
for years because their documentation is ambiguous and misleading.
American farmers who do indeed produce legitimate half-blood
(47.5% genotyped) and pure-blood (92.5% genotype) Wagyu beef(*)
are trying to protect the lineage and the associated marketing
terms but are losing to the Big Beef lobbies. No more live Wagyu
cattle will be imported into the U.S. so this marketing term is
just getting more diluted without any oversight whatsoever.
(*) There are no 100% full-blood Wagyu producers in the U.S. They
would all be inbred since so few live cattle were imported over a
15 years period.
This is why I run the "Largest Meat Forum in the World!", to bring
geekness to people who usually couldn't give less of a shit.
What's for lunch? Meatball sandwich maybe?... I gotta do some
lumberjacking first...
-sw