Does Costco Actually Sell Authentic Japanese Wagyu?

For the beef connoisseurs among us, no steak is prized as much as real Japanese wagyu. The reason wagyu beef is so expensive is because it comes from a select corps of cattle that are raised and slaughtered in Japan. Wagyu is particularly known for the exquisite fat marbling of its flesh and comes from four breeds: red and brown Akaushi, black Kuroushi, Japanese Polled, and Japanese Short Horned. Kobe beef, which comes from a sub-breed of the black Kuroushi, is a protected term, but in Japan "wagyu" usually just translates to "beef."

You may have seen beef labeled wagyu on Costco's website with an eye-popping price tag of $470 for just three pounds. The cost certainly seems genuine, but is the meat the real deal? Wagyu is broadly considered a breed type in the U.S., but it's not strictly protected like the kobe term. However, the American Wagyu Association does typically label such beef in the U.S and there are USDA-covered rules about how much of an animla's DNA must come from a wagyu ancestor to be considered wagyu themselves.

So, is it authentic? It's not precisely a protected term, but the Costco stuff is imported from Japan, which is about as authentic as many American consumers can hope to get. While this meat isn't the finest of the fine (that distinction more rightfully belongs to Kobe beef), but the Costco product is A5 Ribeye, which is among the highest quality of wagyu available in the States.

While both Sam's Club and Costco have better meat than you can typically find at a supermarket, Costco stands alone as the go-to source for rare and refined beef cuts like the A5 wagyu. Due to the risks of mad cow disease (as well as strict breeding restrictions), wagyu beef cows can no longer be imported into America. Likewise, importing Japanese beef can be a tricky process with plenty of limitations from both the U.S. and Japan coming into play.

Interbreeding of wagyu cows with American Angus breeds in past years has produced "American wagyu" beef which, while of undeniable high quality, doesn't have the velvet mouthfeel and sublime, buttery taste of what you might consider more authentic Japanese wagyu.

Because of the astronomical cost of feeding wagyu cows a top-tier diet and the relatively small number of herds — to say nothing of import costs — this meat is always extremely pricey in the States. In fact, the Costco going price is often a great deal, considering premium wagyu can fetch as much as $200 per pound. The good news is that the unbeatable richness of wagyu dictates the tradition of serving it in very small portions cooked with simple seasoning at a tender rare or medium rare doneness. If your wallet can handle the hit, grab some wagyu alongside your $5 rotisserie chicken during your next Costco run and prepare yourself for a dinner you won't soon forget.