Industry News - PM

Kobe beef — the real thing — on its way to U.S.


By Tom Johnston on 11/30/2012

Japan on Thursday exported to the United States its first-ever shipment of Kobe beef, according to media reports.

Not the “Kobe beef” that U.S. restaurants have claimed they’ve been serving in recent years, but the real product that can only come from the Tajima breed raised in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan.

The move follows the USDA’s decision in August to resume imports of whole cuts of boneless beef imports from Japan. Washington had banned Japanese beef in April 2010 amid a foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Japan.

“We’d like [U.S. consumers] to understand what real Kobe beef that has been raised in Japan tastes like, said Daisuke Terao of the Kobe Beef Marketing & Distribution Promotion Association, which owns the Kobe beef brand name and certifies the product, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

The association told China’s Xinhua news service the 375-pound shipment included filet, loin and other parts from five cows.


 
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