The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), along with the Japanese government and others, has drawn up guidelines on how to apply for wagyu made in Japan to be labeled as “wagyu” in the United States, sources said.
U.S. food labeling rules require applications to label beef and other brands. In 2022, Japanese operators unaware of the rules exported wagyu-labeled products, only to be ordered by U.S. authorities to remove the label. Since then, exports of beef labeled as such from Japan have been suspended.
The move by JETRO comes as wagyu is not necessarily recognized as being of Japanese origin in the United States, where such beef produced domestically and in Australia is spreading.
According to the organization, 55% of wagyu-labeled beef sold in the U.S. in 2020 was produced domestically, and 40% was imported from Australia. Wagyu from Japan accounted for only 5%.
Meanwhile, high-end wagyu products from Japan are sold at prices about 2.5 times those of U.S. and Australian wagyu, according to Japan’s Agriculture and Livestock Industries Corp.
While restaurant operators in the U.S. are allowed to offer unlabeled Japanese beef as wagyu from Japan, a JETRO official stressed that, “Labeling leads to credibility.”