no beef from Japan, not one ounce in any form, was allowed to be imported into this country by the USDA, starting back in 2009. To that end, every single restaurant in the nation that claimed Kobe beef on its menu, and there were hundreds, was lying (along with retailers). Many were charging very top dollar, three figures for steaks or $50 for a burger, and implicated in this scam were numerous celebrity chefs. Not surprisingly, I received comments from many folks who had paid such handsome amounts for what I termed “faux-be” beef, and they were understandably outraged because they had been ripped off, pure and simple. To be fair, I also received plenty of comments from folks who took a “so what?” attitude and I imagine they will feel pretty much the same way about the news that Kobe beef has returned to the US.
A second and more complicated issue is the menu gray areas of “Japanese beef,” “Japanese Wagyu,” “Domestic Wagyu,” or Wagyu in general. The first two terms clearly suggest that the product comes from Japan, just as I would completely expect Colombian Coffee or French Champagne to come from Colombia and France, no ifs, ands or buts. Again, this was a big lie given the total ban on the importation of Japanese beef. As for Wagyu, while the word can literally be interpreted as any cattle in Japan, it has widely come to be used to mean several specific historically Japanese breeds (including Tajima-gyu, the only one that can legally be labelled Kobe beef). In several cases purebred Wagyu were exported from Japan, especially to Australia and the US, where some – but certainly not all – farmers have continued to breed them with pure bloodlines. In this country, much of the Japanese cattle has been cross bred with domestic stock and diluted, often heavily, to intentionally produce a result more in keeping with the traditional texture and taste of American beef (and to reduce costs). While there are absolutely some very conscientious and high quality farmers raising pure Japanese breed cattle in the US who produce excellent beef, this niche is largely unregulated and free from governmental labeling requirements that would give the consumer any protection or useful information.