Wagyu beef: ready and waiting

A drop in exports due to COVID-19 means that there is more Wagyu beef availably locally.

After two years of marketing, education and encouragement, enough beef producers have switched to the Wagyu breed to ensure a consistent supply of South African Wagyu beef on the local market. Availability has also been boosted by reduced exports.

In the meantime, Wagyu South Africa’s (Wagyu SA) efforts to monitor the breed’s meat quality continue. Two carcass cameras, namely the MIJ camera from Japan and the Masterbeef camera from Australia, are being trialled at Morgan Beef abattoir, which is used as a Wagyu SA research site. A Wagyu representative is on site when carcass measurements are taken.

Six other abattoirs use objective measures of carcass quality; these are marbling score, marbling fineness, eye muscle area, fat colour and meat colour. All carcasses are graded independently by the South African Meat Industry Company, and the results speak for themselves.

At the Morgan abattoir, 122 Wagyu carcasses were processed in April, and these achieved an average marbling score of 5. Some of the groups processed averaged nearly 500kg hot carcass weight after being on feed for 290 days.

The Certified Wagyu Beef protocol specifies that beef with marbling scores of 1 and 2 must be used as ground (hamburger) meat; beef with a marbling score of 3 can be sold as primal cuts, and beef with a marbling score of 4 or above is suitable for exports.

The effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic will also give more South African consumers the opportunity to try South African Wagyu beef, as exports, mainly to the Middle East markets, have slowed. This has made more of the product available at local butchers, retailers and online sites.

The pipeline for South African Wagyu beef is now firmly in place, from farm to feedlot and consumer. All Wagyu cattle are tagged at birth to ensure compliance through the value chain. To date, nearly 15 000 tags have been issued to local producers.

South African research on Wagyu meat has confirmed international claims of health benefits. Over the past few years, Wagyu SA has had to rely on international research to make claims regarding the health of Wagyu beef.

Case study

Prof Arno Hugo, a leading South African meat scientist at the University of the Free State, which has one of only two research institutes able to conduct studies on fatty acid profiles in meat, recently conducted a study under the auspices of Wagyu SA to verify Wagyu health benefit claims.

Meeting the international definition of Wagyu, the breed content of the first test sample was 100% Wagyu. The second sample comprised 50% Wagyu genetics. Wagyu contains more marbling than any other beef breed in South Africa, and this was shown in the study. The first sample contained 38,3g of marbling per 100g of meat, and the second sample contained 16,7g of marbling per 100g of meat. Another finding was that Wagyu has, on average, seven times more monounsaturated fat (measured in mg/100g) than most other beef sold in South Africa.

The most important fatty acid found in Wagyu is oleic acid, which is the main fatty acid found in avocados. Avocados have become very popular and are valued as part of a healthy diet. Wagyu is likely to follow the same trajectory due to its higher than normal level of oleic acid.

superior beef

The three key attributes of a good meat eating experience are tenderness, juiciness and flavour. Wagyu gets its juiciness and flavour from its high levels of marbling.

Shear force is a measurement of the force required to cut through meat, and is an objective means of determining tenderness. A shear force of less than 3,8kg is considered an indication of tender meat. The Wagyu tested had a shear force of 1,69kg (100% Wagyu) and 2,02kg (50% Wagyu). The Wagyu beef was thus found to be exceptionally tender.

Prof Stephen Smith, a leading meat scientist from Texas A&M University in the US, has made the claim in publications that Wagyu beef represents a potential gold mine for producers, as the marbling provides the flavour and juiciness demanded by meat eaters, and oleic acid provides proven health benefits. The South African research helps verify these claims. • Source: Prof Stephen Smith. Retrieved from Rocking711.com/ dr-stephen-smith-presentationregarding-wagyu-lipids-to-twageneral-meeting-4-22-2016.

• Email Wagyu South Africa at office@wagyu.org.za.

wagyu beef is traced from birth to consumer