The steak, a Senku Pure Wagyu Fillet from Australian producer Paradigm Foods, was named at an awards ceremony held in Amsterdam yesterday (10 September), following a judging day at Vlees & Co steakhouse.
The winning steak was also named World’s Best Grain Fed Fillet and Oceania’s Best Steak (see full results, below).
Australian producer Jack’s Creek & Albers, a previous winner of the World’s Best Steak category, took home the title of World’s Best Wagyu.
Other winners include Tesco Ireland, which won the award for World’s Best Grass Fed Sirloin; LUMA Beef AG in the US, whose ribeye was named North America’s Best Steak; Ireland’s Dawn Meats, which won in the World’s Best Grass Fed Ribeye category; and Chilean producer Agricola Mollendo S.A, which came top in the World’s Best Grain Fed Sirloin category.
Steaks were awarded in both grain-fed and grass-fed categories. Awards were also handed out in two company categories – the Small Producer and Large Producer Awards. Toriyama Cattle Farm in Japan won the Small Producer Award and Australia’s Padoo Wagyu Corporation won the Large Producer Award.
A total of 328 medals were awarded at this year’s World Steak Challenge. Of the total, 128 were gold medals, 114 steaks were given silver medals, and 86 steaks were bronze medal winners.
Ireland took home the most gold medals, with 29 steaks from the country awarded the accolade, closely followed by Australia, with 27 steaks awarded a gold medal. Overall, Ireland had the greatest medal haul, with 82 steaks awarded either a gold, silver or bronze award, ahead of Australia with 42 medals and England with 26 medals.
More than 450 steaks were judged blind by a carefully selected judging panel of more than 60 meat experts.
The panel included Richie Wilson, culinary director of FIRE Steakhouse & Bar; Ioannis Grammenos, executive chef and Meatologist of Heliot Steak House in London; Katie Doherty, CEO at the International Meat Trade Association; butcher and food writer Jessica Wragg; and Fred Smith, head of beef at Flat Iron.
“The World Steak Challenge once again shows the incredible quality of steaks that are being produced across the world with the utmost care and dedication to taste and animal husbandry,” says Stefan Chomka, editor of Restaurant.
“The challenge is a celebration of beef farming on a global scale and shines the spotlight on those farmers and producers at the very top of their game.
“Congratulations to every producer that received a medal at this year’s event.”
The World Steak Challenge is an annual event that gives steak producers and suppliers a much-needed platform to showcase product quality, breed credentials and processing standards on an international stage. It is organised by William Reed, the publisher of Restaurant as well as a number of other leading business food and drink publications.
The World Steak Challenge is supported by partners Bord Bia, HVO Meat and Vlees & Co.
World Steak Challenge Full Winners List
World’s Best Steak: Senku Pure Wagyu, Paradigm Foods, Australia
Asia’s Best Steak: Japanese Black Wagyu, Meat Japan, Japan
North America’s Best Steak: Black Angus and Japanese Wagyu Ribeye, LUMA Beef AG, US
South America’s Best Steak: Angus Ribeye, MBRF | Fritz Fleisch & Fisch | Bēf&Co, Argentina
Oceania’s Best Steak: Senku Pure Wagyu, Paradigm Foods, Australia
Europe’s Best Steak: Wagyu Cross Holstein Fillet, ABP UK, Northern Ireland
World’s Best Grain-Fed Sirloin: F1 Wagyu, Agricola Mollendo S.A, Chile
World’s Best Grain-Fed Ribeye: Japanese Black and Holstein Cross, Hasegawa Farm Co, Japan
World’s Best Grain-Fed Fillet: Senku Pure Wagyu, Paradigm Foods, Australia
World’s Best Grass-Fed Sirloin: Angus Cross, Tesco Ireland, Ireland
World’s Best Grass-Fed Ribeye: Aberdeen Angus Cross, Dawn Meats, Ireland
World’s Best Grass-Fed Fillet: Wagyu Cross Holstein, ABP UK, Northern Ireland
World’s Best Wagyu: Purebred Wagyu, Jack’s Creek & Albers, Australia
Small Producer Award: Toriyama Cattle Farm, Japan
Large Producer Award: Padoo Wagyu Corporation, Australia