Buying guide · Breed vs breed

Wagyu vs Angus

Wagyu and Angus are both cattle breeds, but Wagyu — a group of four Japanese breeds — is selected for very heavy marbling, graded in Japan up to BMS 12, while Angus, a Scottish breed, marbles readily but far less. Wagyu fat, rich in oleic acid, melts at a lower temperature, so the beef is cut thin, seared briefly and eaten in smaller portions; it costs considerably more, and F1 crosses of the two sit in between.

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Also known as: Bò Wagyu và bò AngusLast reviewed 22 Oct 20268 sources

Are Wagyu and Angus both breeds?

Yes, with one difference: Angus is a single breed, while Wagyu is a group of four Japanese breeds — Japanese Black, Brown, Shorthorn and Polled.

Angus, or Aberdeen Angus, was fixed as a breed in north-east Scotland in the early nineteenth century; its first herd book appeared in 1862. It is hornless, black or red, matures early and finishes well on pasture or grain, which made it the default sire for steak beef in the United States, Argentina, Australia and many other countries.

Wagyu (和牛, “Japanese cattle”) was selected in Japan, above all after the Second World War, for fat deposited inside the muscle. The Japanese Black, the great majority of the population, is the most marbled. Small numbers of Wagyu cattle and genetics left Japan between 1976 and the late 1990s; every Wagyu herd outside Japan descends from that limited founder group.

Neither name is a grade. “Wagyu” on a label says something about genetics, not about the steak in the pack; “Angus” usually rests on a black hide rather than a pedigree. The grade printed next to the name says more about eating quality.

How do they compare side by side?

Japanese A5 Wagyu must score BMS 8–12 on Japan’s 12-point marbling scale; Certified Angus Beef, the best-known Angus brand, requires USDA marbling of “modest” or higher, the upper part of Choice and Prime.

How is the marbling graded?

Japan grades marbling on the Beef Marbling Standard, BMS 1–12, and A5 requires 8–12; Australia uses the AUS-MEAT marble score, 0–9; the United States uses marbling degrees, with Prime starting at “slightly abundant”.

In Japan the Japan Meat Grading Association scores each carcass at the cut between the sixth and seventh ribs. The letter (A–C) is yield; the number (1–5) is quality, set by the lowest of four scores: marbling, meat colour, firmness and texture, and fat colour. Australian Wagyu is normally sold by AUS-MEAT marble score, written “MB 6–7” or “MB 9+”. USDA quality grades rest on marbling and maturity: Prime needs slightly abundant marbling or more, Choice small to moderate, Select slight.

Most Angus beef is graded on the USDA, MSA or AUS-MEAT scales, and well-finished Angus reaches USDA Prime. Exporters publish charts that line the scales up, but these are not issued by the grading bodies, and the systems measure different things, so they cannot be converted exactly. What the charts agree on is that A5’s minimum, BMS 8, lies well beyond the marbling of a typical USDA Prime steak. See Grading systems for the full comparison.

What is F1 Wagyu?

F1 is a first cross, most often a Wagyu sire on an Angus dam (sometimes a Holstein), giving 50 % Wagyu genetics.

Crossbreeding stretches scarce Wagyu genetics and combines Wagyu marbling with the faster growth and maternal traits of the dam. The beef usually marbles more than straight Angus and less than fullblood Wagyu. Much of what is sold as “American Wagyu” or as crossbred Australian Wagyu is F1 or a later cross.

In Australia and the United States the breed associations define the terms: fullblood is 100 % Japanese ancestry traceable to Japan, purebred is usually at least 93.75 %, and F1, F2 and so on describe successive crosses. A pack labelled only “Wagyu” may contain any of these; the percentage or the marble score is what separates them.

Do they cook differently?

Yes: A5 Wagyu is usually served in portions of 80–120 g, cut thin and seared briefly, while an Angus steak is typically 250–350 g, 2.5–4 cm thick, and cooked to medium-rare, about 54 °C / 129 °F.

Highly marbled Wagyu fat melts at a lower temperature than the fat of most European breeds, so the meat softens quickly and becomes greasy if cooked long or eaten in large pieces. Japanese cooking reflects this: thin slices for sukiyaki and shabu-shabu, small cubes or slices for yakiniku, or steaks of 1.5–2 cm seared for a minute or two a side. The fat that renders into the pan is often used to cook vegetables alongside.

Angus steaks follow the usual rules for marbled European beef: a thicker cut, a hard sear, and a core temperature chosen by doneness, as in Steak temperatures. Lower Wagyu grades (BMS 4–6, MB 4–6) and F1 crosses can be cooked as ordinary thick steaks, with slightly smaller portions.

Why does Wagyu cost more?

Wagyu costs more at every level, and Japanese A5 typically sells for several times the price of Choice-grade Angus, because it takes longer and costs more to produce.

Japanese Black steers are commonly fattened for around 20 months and slaughtered at about 28–30 months, roughly twice as long as a typical feedlot steer, and they grow more slowly. Genetics are limited outside Japan, and the top grades are a small share of carcasses even within Japan. Fullblood Wagyu raised elsewhere carries part of the same cost; F1 crosses cost less because the dam’s faster growth shortens the time to slaughter. Angus, produced at a much larger scale, is priced mainly by grade: Prime above Choice above Select.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

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1. Japan Meat Grading Association. Beef Carcass Grading Standard. Tokyo, 1988 (rev. 2014). www.jmga.or.jp
2. AUS-MEAT Limited. Handbook of Australian Meat, 7th ed. (International Red Meat Manual). Brisbane, 2005. www.ausmeat.com.au
3. USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. United States Standards for Grades of Carcass Beef. 2017. www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/carcass-beef-grades-and-standards
4. Polkinghorne, R. J.; Thompson, J. M. "Meat standards and grading: a world view." Meat Science 86, no. 1 (2010): 227–235.
5. Gotoh, Takafumi; Nishimura, Takanori; Kuchida, Keigo; Mannen, Hideyuki. "The Japanese Wagyu beef industry: current situation and future prospects — A review." Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences 31, no. 7 (2018): 933–950.
6. Certified Angus Beef LLC. The brand’s 10 quality standards. Wooster, Ohio. www.certifiedangusbeef.com
7. Australian Wagyu Association. Wagyu breed information and content definitions (fullblood, purebred, crossbred). www.wagyu.org.au
8. Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society. History of the breed. Perth, Scotland. www.aberdeen-angus.co.uk

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