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Business View Australia - June 2015 117

United States, because of Australia’s

quarantine restrictions and therefore

they then took the genetics from the

U.S. and imported them into Australia.

The Japanese initially allowed

that export to occur, but through

pressure from their breeders who

wanted to protect and retain the

genetics themselves within Japan,

the government declared the prod-

uct, the Wagyu breed and Wagyu

genetics, to be a national treasure

and so shut down the export mar-

ket for genetics out of Japan.

So the window of opportunity for

these genetics from Japan was only

about four years during the 1990’s.

So during that time the breed has

been grown in Australia and it is up to

the point where it is now clearly rec-

ognised in Australia and international-

ly as the premium brand. So it is inter-

esting that a brand called Wagyu has

emerged so quickly without any major

marketing really, to be the paramount

beef product on the world scene.”

Wagyu beef quickly became pop-

ular and has been adjudged to be

“tender, extremely juicy, with rich

textures and plenty of flavour and a

pleasant lasting taste on the palate”

in the Australian Wagyu Association

– Branded Beef Competition. It has

significant health benefits and con-

tains more conjugated linoleic acid

(CLA)-Omega 6 per gram than any

other foodstuff. The amount of CLA

in Wagyu beef exceeds that in other

beef by 30%. CLA is known to be a

powerful anti-carcinogenic and pos-

sesses anit-inflammatory properties.

The high level of marbling in Wagyu

beef gives it a unique flavour and

taste and is responsible for its health

enhancing properties. Marbling is

the visible form of intramuscular fat

which appears within the muscle and

the extent of marbling is the result

of genetics and nutrition. AUS-MEAT

Limited, an industry owned company,

has developed a grading system to

ensure the standardised measure-

ment of quality. Fullblood Wagyu beef

has the highest marbling scores and

crossbred Wagyu has lower scores.

The Australian Wagyu As-

sociation and its role

The Australian Wagyu Association

was constituted in 1989 with the

purpose of being the official voice of

the Wagyu breed in Australia and rep-

resenting its members. It maintains

a rigorous and comprehensive breed

registry and DNA records with a view

MANUFACTURING