ICMJ students assess beef carcases and primals for quality and yield as part of their judging criteria for the 2018 ICMJ beef contest held at Teys Wagga last week. Click image for a larger view

ABOUT 180 university students and coaches took part in the annual Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Competition in Wagga Wagga NSW last week.

Participants represented 15 universities from across Australia and overseas, with international visitors from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and the US.

The five-day event encompassed a range of industry workshops and seminars as well as the meat judging competition which involved judging beef, lamb and pork carcases and beef primals. Students also had to identify wholesale beef primals as well as beef, lamb and pork retail cuts.

Participants also heard from representatives from the beef, pork and lamb industries covering topics from meat science, marketing, and consumer trends to meat industry technology, eating quality and carcase yield. Teys Australia chief value chain officer Tom Maguire spoke to students about the future of beef marketing and value based pricing.

Teys Australia sponsored one of the event dinners, showcasing its Riverine Premium Beef brand which is produced locally.

Another event highlight was the Careers Expo which provided the future graduates with the chance to discuss career opportunities with a range of employers within the meat industry sector. Many students expressed a keen interest in future employment in the meat industry.

The beef section of the competition was sponsored by Teys Australia and was hosted on-site at the company’s Wagga Wagga plant. Students were required to judge a range of classes including different primals, domestic and export carcase categories, several pricings-based carcase classes as well as an eating evaluation class.

Out of the 130 Australian competitors, five will be chosen to represent Australia at a meat judging competition in the United States early next year.

The ICMJ committee was pleased with the overall success of the event and also the influence of the event on the Australian meat industry over the last 29 years, with involvement in ICMJ sparking many successful careers into the meat industry.

• Results will be published in coming days.

The 2018 ICMJ participants at Teys Wagga, which hosted the Beef Contest. Click on images for a larger view