The fabled, highly marbled, extremely pricey beef known as wagyu is now widely available nationwide. It is possible to locate real Wagyu beef of the highest quality online.

Of course, purchasing anything online—especially the pricey wagyu beef—can be challenging if you don’t know what to look for. Today we’re going to discuss the things to look out for to avoid disappointment when purchasing Wagyu beef online.

Grading 

Each nation has its system for rating the quality of wagyu beef. Every cow is examined individually to confirm that it is genuine wagyu to stop fake breeds from entering the market. 

Japan’s grading tests are significantly more thorough than Australia’s and the UK, as it emphasizes the cattle’s purebred status and marbling.

Japanese Wagyu

Japan maintains tight standards for wagyu beef classification, ranging from the breed of the cow to the grain it eats. The Japanese Meat Grading Association (JMGA) grades wagyu based on the cow’s yield and the meat’s caliber.

Generally, the quality standards are based on marbling, color, brightness, firmness, texture, sheen, and fat quality. A scale of 1 to 5 represents the grade, with five being the best. Additional points are given based on the yield and marbling of the beef. The beef marbling score (BMS) is scaled from 1 to 12, with grades 8–12 being the highest marbling quality.

• Poor (1) 
• Below Average (2) 
• Average (3-4) 
• Good (5-7) 
• Excellent (8-12)

A letter may occasionally be next to the Wagyu grading (such as A5). The letter refers to yield grade, a specific metric from quality.

Australian Wagyu

The BMS system only assigns a quality rating of 1–10 to Australian wagyu, similar to how Japanese beef is graded.

British Wagyu

British wagyu’s four key evaluation factors are marbling, color and brightness, firmness and texture, and fat quality.

Certification 

Japanese Wagyu beef must come from one of the four types of Japanese cows: Kuroge (Japanese Black), Akage (Japanese Brown), Nihon Tankaku (Japanese Shorthorn), and Mukaku (Japanese Polled).

The term “Japanese Wagyu” refers to beef from one of these cows. Wagyu cows are grown and bred in a particular manner To increase intramuscular marbling and meat content, and they must also come from a specific species.

When evaluating a company to buy from, make sure they offer comprehensive details on their cow-sourcing and-raising practices. This is to ensure you purchase genuine wagyu beef.

Reputation

You must buy wagyu meat from a reputable company like Carniceria Prime to avoid being duped. Customer reviews on a company’s website and other platforms are usually a reliable indicator of that company’s reputation.

In addition to having well-designed, tidy, and responsive websites, reputable businesses typically have a solid online presence. How well a company’s website is built, and functions frequently reveals a lot about its trustworthiness.

Please try to locate evaluations from other sources outside the official website to ensure they haven’t been altered.

The takeaway

Ensure you do thorough research before ordering wagyu beef online.