What is “dry-aged beef”, which is often talked about lately? Does raw beef become edible if it is aged?

“Dry-aged beef” is recently drawing attention but at present we still do not have any definitions and standards that are broadly accepted.
“Dry-aged beef” sounds different from raw meat but from the viewpoint of hygiene, it is of no difference from raw beef and may have food poisoning bacteria attached, and thus it is required to sufficiently heat dry-aged beef before consumption.

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< No unified definitions and standards have been established regarding dry-aged beef.>

• Dry-aged beef has no legal definitions and standards.  In addition, the industry has no unified definition and the individual shops and restaurants are aging meat in their own manners and methods.
• In general, beef is aged for a long time in a dedicated aging chamber under a controlled environmental condition, including temperature, humidity, wind, and funguses, and then the surface of the beef is trimmed before sold as dry-aged beef.
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Government investigated about facilities dealing with dry-aged beef products and found that the individual facilities applied the aging conditions based on their own individual experiences and none of them used the same aging method as others.

* Dry-aged beef has no established definition but, in this FAQ, beef aged in the above-mentioned manner is referred to as “dry-aged beef” for convenience’ sake.

< Dry-aged beef must be heated before consumption.  It is not edible in the raw.>

• It is aged but not different from ordinary raw meat, and thus ingestion of raw dry-aged beef may cause food poisoning.  Dry-aged beef is totally different from those products that have hygienic standards and criteria corresponding to consumption in unheated conditions, such as uncured hams (unheated meat products).
• The Tokyo Metropolitan Government examined dry-aged beef products and detected some food poisoning bacteria from the surfaces, which were also detected from ordinary raw beef.
• Sufficiently heat dry-aged beef before consumption.  In addition, when you cook a purchased dry-aged beef product, be cautious at the same level as when you cook raw meat, such as separating cooking tools.

* The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has found through investigations, that no “dry-aged beef” product satisfied the criteria applied to meat for eating raw.