Vacuum wet-aging also tenderizes beef. Why is it usually cheaper than dry-aging?

Answer: Less shrink and crust

No enzyme tenderizing — Not quite. Wet aging does not skip enzymes; the USDA tenderness paper even notes that tenderization occurs at the same rate for vacuum-packaged subprimals as for dry-aged cuts. That is the counterintuitive part: the cheaper method can share the main tenderizing chemistry. What it lacks is the exposed-air flavor pathway and the costly evaporation-and-trimming losses.

Marbling added back — No. Marbling is intramuscular fat the animal already had; a vacuum bag cannot add it back. Wet aging is cheaper because the meat stays packaged, so it loses little weight and does not form the same dried crust. Good marbling can make either wet- or dry-aged steak more luxurious, but it is not created by the aging method.

Less shrink and crust ✓ — Right. Vacuum packaging lets enzymes tenderize meat while blocking the two expensive dry-aging losses: water evaporation and crust trimming. The BeefResearch report says vacuum packaging grew because avoiding shrinkage and trim loss made economic sense. So the surprise is not that wet aging is fake aging; it is real aging with fewer sellable pounds sacrificed.