Rich Beef, Poor Beef

For the month’s most saddening food news so far: some premium Japanese wagyu (like Matsusaka and Kobe) might be temporally coming to the end of the line.

It was officially proclaimed a state of emergency, while the outbreak of foot – and – mouth disease (FMD) in Miyazaki had unfolded into a “massacre” for the region’s livestock – an inevitable culling of more than a hundred thousand of livestock in the affected area, including 49 of 55 breeding cows to go. Miyazaki has been providing the “seeds” for other wagyu lines in the form of calves, besides maintaining its own line of breed. Now, in the midst of this disaster, only 5 breeding cows are left at the brink of extinction. With such a flimsy lifeline, it will probably take some years (if not forever) for the original version of Japanese wagyu to come back in reasonable supply. In the meantime, however, one may find wagyu from Australia and New Zealand as a reasonable Plan B.

Let us pray for peace and safety of the prefecture of Miyazaki and the country, and that the 5 last sires could pass it on. Somehow, somewhere, some precious cows still deserve to get meaty with generous pampering of beer and massages!