Washugyu Wagyu

Washugyu describes its beef as coming from American-bred cattle raised under a custom Japanese programme, selecting Tajima Wagyu genetic traits and crossing them with American cows. That is a cross, stated plainly, and naming Tajima specifically is more than most American brands offer, since Tajima is the lineage behind Kobe and the most sought-after of the Japanese Black strains.

The operation is fully integrated from breeding through to sales, and the cattle are certified Non-Hormone Treated and fed a vegetarian ration under a proprietary programme. What is not published is a generation: no fullblood, purebred, F1 or percentage appears, which puts it in the same position as most of the American category.

Washugyu runs its own marbling system, quoted as SPB 10 up, SPB 8 to 9, and SPB 7 down, assessed at the ranch by the company's own trained graders. It is a real and consistently applied measure within the brand, and it is genuinely useful for comparing one Washugyu cut against another.

It is not an external grade. Japan's JMGA scale and Australia's AUS-MEAT scale are issued by bodies outside the producer; SPB is issued by the producer. So an SPB number on a menu tells you where a cut sits in Washugyu's range and nothing about where that range sits against anyone else's. Treat it the way you would treat a brand's Gold or Reserve tier: informative inside the brand, not comparable outside it.