Is Wagyu Beef Healthier Than Angus Beef?

Full-Blood Wagyu v. American Wagyu v. Angus Beef

The difference between Full-Blood Wagyu and American Wagyu cattle lies strictly in the genetics of that particular animal.

Full-Blood Wagyu: Here at HHF we only raise Full-Blood Wagyu. There are approximately only 5000 Full-Blood Wagyu in the United States out of 91 million beef cows. Full-Blood Wagyu is 100% Wagyu, with genes from a female cow and male sire that are traceable to the herds in Japan.

Side note, only about 200 Full Blood Wagyu were exported from Japan between the early 1970s and later part of the 90s. In 1997 Japan declared the Wagyu a national treasure and stopped all exports of genetics and live animals from Japan. Therefore when we talk about Full-Blood Wagyu raised in the United States, we are discussing the offspring of the original 200 Wagyu animals that were exported to the United States during a 25 year time span.

American Wagyu: The vast majority of Wagyu to be found in the American meat market is a crossbred animal that stems from a full-blood bull and a conventional cow, such as Angus. Lineage still matters here. As these cattle are half Wagyu, they do produce higher quality beef than traditional commercial cattle. Crossbred Wagyu will surely taste more elevated than the other available beef in the meat industry, but it tends to not have that signature umami flavor profile that purebred and full-blood Wagyu always do.

Angus Beef Cow: According to the USDA there are approximately 92 million beef cows in the United States. Each year approximately 31 million cattle are harvested.

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