Kobe beef

The Kobe beef (Jap.神 戸 牛, Kobe - gyu, dt " Kobe beef " ) refers to cattle from the area around Kobe. There is no separate domestic cattle breed, but merely an indication of origin for the race of the Tajima cattle.

Cattle are often referred to as Wagyu outside Japan, but this is a collective name, which also include other Japanese cattle breeds other than the Tajima cattle.

The import of Kobe beef in the EU is not possible because there is no slaughterhouse with EU approval are all over Japan, the Kobe beef slaughters.

The meat of cattle has a particularly crumbly structure and excellent marbling fat with fine veins. The beef is the most heavily marbled meat of all cattle breeds. Furthermore, the meat has the lowest proportion of saturated fatty acids.

To the Kobe beef is shrouded in all sorts of myths and stories. The fact is that cattle from Kobe get on average three times as much time as a traditional beef until they are ready for slaughter. Until then, usually no artificial growth hormones or antibiotics are being used. The cattle are usually smaller and lighter than normal beef. That alone makes the entertainment complex and expensive.

Kobe beef is the most expensive beef in the world. A kilo of real Kobe beef cost 400 to 600 euros, sometimes even more. In addition to the very elaborate breeding also determine the restrictive quality features for real Kobe beef price. It is said that every year, only about 4,000 cattle meet these high quality features and may be sold as real Kobe beef in Japan.

The population outside of Japan originated from animals that were exported for scientific purposes, the mid-90s in the United States. Due to increasingly growing demand for the meat around the world choose more and more breeders, partially or even completely change their attitude to the " Kobe beef ".

Especially in the USA and Australia, Kobe breeding spread like wildfire. In Germany 2006, the first such animals were born. The marketing of produced in Germany in this way, meat, live cattle, embryos and semen is coordinated by the Wagyu Breeders Association.