WITH the second annual World Steak Challenge taking place in London on 22 September, Australian beef has a serious reputation to protect.

A Wagyu entry produced by the Warmoll family’s Jack’s Creek Wagyu operations in northern NSW was crowned champion in the inaugural event held last year, while Australian entries picked up four of the eleven gold medals awarded in the competition along the way.

The Jack’s Creek F2 Wagyu entry grainfed 450-days on a Japanese style ration produced a marbling score of 8, among the highest in the competition.

Click here to see Beef Central’s original report filed last year.

Last year’s inaugural competition was a true ‘United Nations’ event, attracting 70 entries from the United States, Japan, Canada, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Germany, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Uruguay, as well as Australia. Even more countries are expected to supply entries this year.

The Warmolls started crossing high-marbling Tajima Wagyu bulls over an Angus herd in 1991 on their properties near Breeza and Willow Tree in NSW, developing a successful vertically-integrated crossbred Wagyu beef business breeding, growing, lotfeeding, processing and marketing Wagyu beef around the world.

The company feeds its cattle at Geoff Willett’s Maydan specialist Wagyu feedlot near Warwick, Queensland, and gets a service kill done at the Northern Cooperative Meat Co plant at Casino.

Jack’s Creek says it will be back to defend its crown in 2016.

Managing director Patrick Warmoll said last year’s result provided a huge boost for the business.

“Winning the first World’s Best Steak Challenge was huge accomplishment for our company. It has delivered colossal brand recognition, prompted new product development and activated marketing initiatives for Jack’s Creek products worldwide,” he said.

“It’s truly an international competition, so it’s a tremendous honour and we’re stoked to have won it. When we entered we knew that the very best were going to be there and we were right. I was sure Japan or the US would win, but we came through.

“We will be entering the Challenge again in 2016, and hope to win back-to-back,” Mr Wormall said.

The 2016 World Steak Challenge will take place at the Lookout in London’s Hyde Park on 22 September. Closing date for entries is 2 September.

The World Steak Challenge is based on sirloin entries, judged in both raw and cooked form by an expert panel of judges, against internationally-agreed criteria.

The judging panel includes a mix of meat scientists, master butchers, chefs and food writers from all over the world. After raw analysis, steaks are cooked to medium (core temperature between 50-55°C) before being allowed to rest for five minutes and then sampled. Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are awarded to all steaks that attain certain point score levels.

• ABC Landline will feature the Wormall family from Jack’s Creek in an item appearing this Sunday, from Noon.
• Click here to access World Steak Challenge 2016 entry details.