Authentic Wagyu
Online store · ships nationwide
Tier 2 · Provenance-Transparent What the tiers mean
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Why it's listed
Authentic Wagyu is a Washington producer that has raised 100% Fullblood Wagyu from 100% Fullblood Tajima cattle in Enumclaw since 2008, and also imports and sells Japanese A5 Wagyu through its online shop. It handles grade terminology correctly, describing its own domestic beef purely by breed status ('100% Fullblood Tajima') and reserving 'A5' for the imported Japanese product (e.g. an A5 ribeye roast). Orders ship frozen anywhere in the US. The clear breed disclosure and disciplined use of A5 make it a trustworthy source.
It raises one line and imports the other
This is a Washington producer at Enumclaw, south east of Seattle, that has raised its own fullblood Wagyu since 2008 and also imports Japanese A5 to sell alongside it. Two quite different businesses under one roof, and the shop keeps them apart in the way that matters.
Its own cattle are described as 100 percent fullblood from Tajima genetics. Tajima is the Hyogo strain associated with the finest marbling, and it is the bloodline Kobe descends from, so an American herd built on it is making a specific claim about ancestry rather than a general one about Wagyu.
It never puts an A5 on its own beef
The domestic line is described purely by breed status, as fullblood Tajima. A5 appears only against the imported Japanese product. That is the correct handling and it is the single most common thing sellers in this position get wrong.
A is a Japanese yield grade and 5 a Japanese quality score, awarded by the Japanese grading system to carcasses graded in Japan. A herd in Washington cannot receive one however good it is, so a seller with both lines has an obvious temptation and a clear line to hold. Holding it, silently, on every listing, is a better signal than any amount of copy about authenticity.
The name is now a collision, through no fault of its own
Since January 2025 there has been a USDA-backed certification called Certified Authentic Wagyu, run by the American Wagyu Association, with a specification filed with USDA and a label applied by the packing plant. It is the first American mechanism that certifies beef sold as Wagyu actually is Wagyu.
This company has traded as Authentic Wagyu since long before that existed, and the two are unrelated. A business name is not a certification, and nothing here claims it is. But a shopper who has read about the new label and then meets a seller with that name has an easy mistake available, and it is worth naming plainly so it can be avoided.
If you want to know whether any producer carries the certification, the check is the label on the package rather than the name over the door.
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Common questions
- Is this seller certified under the USDA Authentic Wagyu programme?
- Its name is not a certification and nothing here claims it is. The company has traded as Authentic Wagyu since 2008, and the USDA-backed Certified Authentic Wagyu label is a separate thing that came into existence in January 2025. The check for that label is the package, not the business name.
- Is its American beef A5?
- No, and it correctly never says so. Its own herd is described by breed status, as 100 percent fullblood from Tajima genetics, and A5 appears only against the Japanese beef it imports. No American herd can receive a Japanese grade.