King Charles III’s long-standing passion for sustainable and organic faming practices and animal welfare drew him into a discussion with Australian grassfed beef producers during the royal couple’s visit to Sydney on Tuesday.
His Royal Highness and Queen Camilla enjoyed a community picnic lunch at Sydney’s Parramatta Park hosted by NSW Premier Chris Minns, with about 500 community leaders, inspiring Australians and volunteers.
The Royals took part in a community BBQ, even manning the tongs briefly to flip sausages with young lifesavers, before engaging with personnel from branded beef producers NH Foods, who were asked to showcase the company’s certified grassfed beef brand, Manning Valley Naturally, for the event.
The product is produced out of NH Foods’ Wingham Beef Exports plant in the Manning Valley on the NSW Central Coast.
“His Royal Highness was genuinely interested in the story behind the product, asking whether it was from Santa Gertrudis or Angus cattle, and the origins of the grassfed program,” NH Foods sales and marketing director Andrew McDonald told Beef Central.
“He went out of his way to come over to the site and have a talk, shaking everyone’s hand – we were blown away,” he said.
Arrangements have been made for a carton of Manning Valley Naturally strips and cubes to make its way to Buckingham Palace in coming weeks.
“His Majesty has long supported organic farming and animal welfare, so to see naturally grassfed Aussie beef was probably very pleasing for him personally to see,” Mr McDonald said.
Manning Valley Naturally is among the most awarded Certified Grassfed brand programs in Australia, winning a succession of awards at branded beef competitions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne since its launch in 2011, around the time that Certified Grassfed premium beef programs were just beginning to gain traction in Australia.
The program includes no added hormones or antibiotics, and pays premiums for producers to meet strict specifications for breed, marbling and eating quality, based on consistently high MSA index scores. Most of the production goes into the US or Middle Eastern export markets or domestically within Australian retail or food service markets.
Earlier, NH Foods earned the NSW DPI’s Innovation award judged on how the company uses innovative economic, social, or environmental approaches to improve its business operations.
HAVE YOUR SAY