Kobe beef
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Template:Nihongo is Wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture around Kobe city, according to rules set out by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association.<ref name="bylaw" /> The meat is a delicacy, valued for its flavour, tenderness and fatty, well-marbled texture. Kobe beef can be prepared as steak, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, sashimi, and teppanyaki. Within Japan, Kobe is one of the three Sandai Wagyū, the "three big beefs", along with Matsusaka beef and Ōmi beef or Yonezawa beef.
Kobe beef is also called Template:Nihongo, Kōbe-gyū or Template:Nihongo in Japanese.<ref name="bylaw">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
Cattle were brought to Japan from China in about the second century AD, in the Yayoi period.Template:R Until about the time of the Meiji Restoration in 1868, they were used only as draught animals, in agriculture, forestry, mining and for transport, and as a source of fertiliser. Milk consumption was unknown, and – for cultural and religious reasons – meat was not eaten.Template:R<ref name=globalmeat>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Japan was effectively isolated from the rest of the world from 1635 until 1854; there was no possibility of intromission of foreign genes to the cattle population during this time.
Between 1868, the year of the Meiji Restoration, and 1887, some 2,600 foreign cattle were imported, including Braunvieh, Shorthorn and Devon.Template:R<ref name="wagyu_history">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Between about 1900 and 1910, there was extensive cross-breeding of these with native stock. From 1919, the various heterogeneous regional populations that resulted from this brief period of cross-breeding were registered and selected as "Improved Japanese Cattle". Four separate strains were characterised, based mainly on which type of foreign cattle had most influenced the hybrids, and were recognised as breeds in 1944. These were the four wagyū breeds, the Japanese Black, the Japanese Brown, the Japanese Polled and the Japanese Shorthorn.Template:R<ref name="wagyu_history" /> The Tajima is a strain of the Japanese Black, the most populous breed (around 90% of the four breeds).<ref name=paste>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Beef consumption remained low until after World War II. Kobe beef grew in popularity and extended its global reach in the 1980s and 1990s.<ref name=ted>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 1983, the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association was formed to define and promote the Kobe trademark. It sets standards for animals to be labeled as Kobe beef.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2009, the USDA placed a ban on the import of all Japanese beef to prevent the Japan foot-and-mouth outbreak from reaching US shores. The ban was relaxed in August 2012 and thereafter Kobe beef was imported into the US.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
IndustryEdit
Kobe beef in Japan is a registered trademark of the Template:Nihongo.<ref name="trademark">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It must fulfill all the following conditions:<ref name="bylaw" />
- Tajima cattle born in Hyōgo Prefecture
- Farm feeding in Hyōgo Prefecture
- Heifer (a female that has not given birth) or bullock (steer or castrated bull)
- Processed at slaughterhouses in Kobe, Nishinomiya, Sanda, Kakogawa, or Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture
- Marbling ratio, called BMS, of level 6 and above<ref name="JapaneseMeatGrading">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- Meat quality score of 4 or 5,<ref name="JapaneseMeatGrading" /> yield grade A or BTemplate:R
- Carcass weight of 499.9 kg or less.Template:R
The cattle are fed on grain fodder and brushed sometimes for setting fur.<ref>Mail magazine entitled Kobe Merumaga Club 2 June 2002 issue by Kobe City Office</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The melting point of fat of Kobe beef (Tajima cattle) is lower than common beef fat.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Kobe beef is expensive, partly because only about 3,000 head of cattle may qualify as Kobe per year.<ref name="wagyu_history" /> In Japan, all cattle, including those approved as Kobe beef, can be tracked via a 10-digit number through every step of their entire life cycle.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Outside JapanEdit
Kobe beef was not exported until 2012.Template:Citation needed It was exported in January 2012 to Macau, then to Hong Kong in July 2012.<ref name=chow>Template:Cite news</ref> Since then, exports have also been made to the United States, Singapore, Switzerland, Thailand,<ref name="exportbeef">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the United Kingdom<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Canada.<ref name="exportbeef2">Template:Cite news</ref>
In some countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States, Wagyu cattle imported from Japan are farmed, either purebred or cross-bred with other beef breeds such as Aberdeen Angus. In some places meat from these cattle may be marketed under names such as "Kobe-style beef"; it is not Kobe beef, and does not fulfil the requirements for certification of the authentic Japanese product.<ref name="beer">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=houston>Template:Cite news</ref> Due to a lack of legal recognition of the Kobe beef trademark in the United States, it is also possible to sell this meat as "Kobe beef".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association planned to publish pamphlets about Kobe beef in foreign languages.<ref name="yomiurishimbun">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
American "Kobe-style" beef tends to be darker and stronger-tasting than the authentic product.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> It may have more appeal to Western palates unfamiliar with the mild taste and high fat content of true Kobe beef.<ref name=paste/>