This is partial news to me... I think it's known that authentic Kobe beef is not available here. Instead, what we usually find on menus is wagyu beef. Wagyu meaning "Japanese beef." So, yeah, that's right... "Japanese beef beef."

Not exactly explosive news since Kobe or wagyu hasn't been available in the US or elsewhere for that matter for a couple of years now. The better steakhouses are very quick to point out where their wagyu comes from. They don't even call it Kobe and they haven't in many years. Any place selling you "Kobe" for less than $100/lb is not even selling the American wagyu. If the price looks too good to be true, it's not the real thing.

Personally, I prefer a little bit more protein (chew?) in my steak and while the wagyu is meltingly delicious, it's not exactly what I prefer in my steak.

When I studied abroad in Japan, I visited a Japanese family for a weekend and they prepared a massive grilled feast - including chunks of Kobe beef. It was the most incredible beef I have ever tasted!

I think it's common knowledge for the type of people that frequent this site but probably not to the general populace. Heck, you can go to any neighborhood bar and get served a $9 "Kobe Beef Burger." I think it's offensive they can get away with that. It doesn't matter if (many) people know it's not really Kobe beef. It's clear they are capitalizing on those who don't.

"Additionally, since 2010 it's been illegal to import any Japanese beef."

Does anyone know why this is?

@ethicalcannibal

According to WSJ 4-22-2010:

April 2010 Japan suffered an outbreak of foot-and-mouth cattle disease at certain farms. Japan suspended exports- U.S. didn't (or didn't need to) suspend imports.

Thank you, E.OLIVER, that makes much more sense to me.

Another scam related food I learned was at sushi restaurants. They usually substitute tilapia (I even read sometimes white bass) for red snapper for their sashimi, maki, etc.

http://www.kcra.com/r/15238831/detail.html

Meanieheads.

Not entirely true: http://www.heartbrandbeef.com/?page=shop/history

Best Kobe beef I ever had was a Kobe beef sushi rose at a business dinner in Tokyo in 1985. The petals of the fully blossomed rose were made from tartare Kobe beef (yes, uncooked). It melted in the mouth like buttah, darling. So delicious we ordered another one. Didn't find out until later that our hosts paid $495 for each rose!

For wagyu, a certificate is issued, too. I have one from years ago.

Well, now I feel a lot better about the "Kobe" beef I accidentally ordered after the nuclear disaster... I was imagining a green glow for weeks...

I read the story from Forbes, but I do not believe it is 100% accurate. Although Japanese Kobe is not FDA approved, it does not mean you cannot get it at restaurants in the US. I have been to atleast 3 places that had both Aus and Jap Kobe on the menu. The “Japanese” steaks started between $30 and 40 an Oz. Although this does not mean that any of the places served real kobe, considering some of the places also sold other food that are not "FDA" approved (ie one of them closed for serving whale meat ) I have no reason to believe they would have lied about the meet. There are a number of places in the US that will serve sushi that is not flash frozen per FDA requirements (some places still will serve live seafood), so I do not think stating that if something is not FDA approved it will not be sold in the US.

Does it matter what fatty beef is called if it tastes the same, or almost the same?

I've had American Wagyu beef and did not like it. Felt like I was eating a wad of butter. Not for me.

Well this seems to have become a big debate on Kobe Beef, I agree there is some inferior American Kobe Style Beef out there however there are lots of very responsible Wagyu Ranchers out there that have a very high end top quality Kobe Style product, I am personally friends with one of them and have talked in depth about this subject with him. The facts, Wagyu is the exact same breed as they have in Kobe Japan, the Japanese exported Wagyu cattle to Us years ago and the breed started here, they exported some great Wagyu cattle here including Michifuku one of the most famous Wagyu sires ever. Now in Japan they do not have amount of land we have here so they are of course raised slightly differently, they are kept in small areas and cannot move around so the massaging is more for muscle tissue health than anything, and the beer is fed in hot summer months to stimulate appetite, in the US we have land so there is not the need to massage them to keep them healthy and some Wagyu producers do feed beer in the hot months to stimulate appetite. Now the Wagyu breed was also exported to Australia and Australians raise them similar to us and they export lots of the Australian beef to Japan, that says a lot right there that if the Japanese are buying Wagyu raised elsewhere it must be a close rendition of what they are used to or they would not buy it if it was "fake" as a lot of articles that are popping up say. They use slightly different feeds in Japan because it is a different country with different agricultural products on hand. I believe soy beans is a big part of the Wagyu diet there. Well guess what we have soy beans in the US as well. I agree there are some not so great Wagyu producers out there but that goes with any cattle breed and any steak you can purchase. But to call the American Wagyu or American Kobe fake is simply ridiculous and in my opinion is nothing but reporters with nothing else to do bashing something they know very little about. The American Kobe demand has done nothing but explode and that is not by chance it is because it is a very good product when it raised correctly with high marbling Japanese bloodlines. In fact Japan recently declared the breed a national treasure, the breed is what makes this breed so great not the fact that is raised in one small part of the world, to say we cannot raise the same cattle as good as they do in Japan is ridiculous, I believe the Wagyu ranchers that are half as*ing it have given the good producers a bad name. And big supermarket chains and some restaurants want to buy the cheapest Wagyu they can in order to mark it up more which escalates the situation because they are buying inferior massed produced Wagyu just because it has Wagyu in the breeding but it is not finished correctly or does not have enough of the proper hi marbling bloodlines. If your buying Wagyu just look at the marbling if it does not have signicantly more marbling than the normal breed steaks next to it do not buy it as it is not good American Kobe. I suggest buying from some of the smaller ranches that have on-line stores. Maybe even ask them to send you a picture of the steaks before you buy. But American Kobe Style when raised correctly is amazing and there's nothing like it. It has a totally unique taste and buttery flavor that cannot be faked or copied. Once you taste the good stuff you will know what I mean.a for what it's worth I buy from JB Kobe Farms they have a highly marbled fine Kobe style product and there are many other food producers.There's a reason this breed is known so well and it's not because it is a fake product it is because it is a fantastic product and it's too bad a few Wagyu producers gave it a bad name. I would avoid big grocery store chains if you want good Kobe style, stick to smaller meat markets and online ranches that sell direct to the public. It should be highly marbled unlike the normal steaks you see that just have a couple streaks of white marbling it should have many streaks with small specs of marbling in between.

All this is just non sense, the breed was brought to the USA from the Kobe region of Japan, the exact same cattle they have in Japan are now here. There maybe a few inferior producers giving the American Kobe style a bad name, however there is no better meat than American Wagyu, or Wagyu from Japan when raised properly with the correct genetics, and for these reporters to be bashing it with very little knowledge about the breed is crazy, I doubt any of these reporters have extensively tried American Kobe from many different sources or visited an US Wagyu ranches, it sounds like they are just copying someone else's article. We all know just because you read something online doesn't mean it's true.
One reason The Japanese brought the breed to the US is to have more sources for the Wagyu since they can only produce a limited amount with their limited resources. Australia exports tons of Wagyu to Japan so it must be a ok product if the Japanese are buying it from other countries.

I really would not classify it as a scam, what it is is American Kobe Style Beef, I know of no ranch or producer that raises Wagyu that is claiming their beef is directly from Kobe Japan however the do have the same bloodlines as they have in Kobe Japan hence they call it American Kobe Beef, not explosive news as many have stated. American Kobe of high quality and proper bloodlines is very very good and a pretty close rendition of Kobe Beef a from Japan

You left out the beer massage, which is as important to the finished product as anything you mentioned which is, NOT AT ALL. I discovered the wonders of Japanese beef, the special Japanese beef, when I was stationed in Japan from 1956 to 1959. It was, and is, wonderful; however, to say that it cannot come from cow floozies as well as virgins, or that any of those other requirements are of any importance on the plate, is plain ridiculous. As to their ordinary beef, well, I'm sure that it's better now, but it was the second worse beef I've ever had. The worst was from the island of Palau. That was so bad that it didn't deserve to be called beef.