Whether it be rice or beef, the Japanese are keen to protect their uniquely superior agricultural products. While it may be enough to simply declare all foreign rice as inferior (regardless of whether Japanese strains of rice grown in other countries are almost identical), more solid steps are being taken to project Kobe Beef:

Japan plans to make its cattle intellectual property to protect its high-end beef industry by identifying pure Japanese animals against those of mixed origin, the agriculture ministry said Friday.

Japan will seek to patent the cattle’s genes and put bar-codes on semen stocks in a bid to protect its beef, known as “wagyu” here and overseas often called Kobe beef.

We can’t have vile mongrel cows claiming to be pure wagyu, can we? [Read the full article here.]