Ilegal alien Wagyu & Kurobuta to be banned
Japan Seeks To Bar Meat Imports From Sale As Local
Cattle Network – 8/27/2006 8:12:00 PM, TOKYO (Nikkei)–Seeking to bar imported meat from being sold under well-known Japanese names, the Agriculture Ministry will establish a panel of experts Thursday to discuss new rules governing labeling…With more imported meat being sold in Japan, there have been imports bearing such Japanese names as Wagyu, which covers Japanese purebred beef, and Kurobuta , a type of Berkshire pig….
It figures that Japan would have a beef with the industry. I suppose that these new rules governing labeling are like “Champagne” that can only come frome the Champagne district of France. However, the “Kurobuta” is just a Berkshire pig and there’s nothing very special about it.
Good Wagyu–best known as Kobe beef–is only half determined by its DNA and mostly an issue of what it is fed and how it’s raised. The beer and massages that are claimed to be given to Kobe beef are just good PR—In reality what makes wagyu beef distinctive is that it fed leftover sake mash/meal. Despite the Japanese cattle industry efforts, wagyu DNA for breeding is available overseas and there are many foreign herds of purebreed wagyu being raised.
At $200 USD for a wagyu steak, nobody eats it very often here in Japan. I would love to buy some cheap alien Wagyu and Kurobuta. Below is a Japanese wagyu beef certificate complete with a noseprint.
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