The best premium producers in the Branded Meats and Smallgoods categories gathered with much anticipation on Friday night, 27 October 2023, to have the winning producers announced for 2023.
Held at the Claremont Showgrounds, the prestigious 2023 Perth Royal Food Awards (Branded Meats and Smallgoods) recognised the top producers across the industry.
The branded meats judging panel comprised of a team of experts, including Chief Judge Stewart Laws, Chef and Owner of Brown Street Grill, scoring each item for its visual appeal (raw), tenderness, juiciness, flavour and overall liking. The smallgoods category also had a team of masters, led by Chief Judge, Winfried Schnur, D’orsogna Fleishmaster – Master Butcher, who judged the produce based on flavour, colour, workmanship, textures/firmness and presentation overall consumer appeal.
Chief Judge Stuart Laws and his team of judges scrutinised 16 Branded Beef and 13 Branded Pork entries for this year’s Branded Meat competition whilst Chief Judge Winfried Schnur and judges tasted their way through 161 entries in the Smallgoods category.
Ryan’s Quality Meats, based in Jandakot and Bunbury, had an extraordinary night, winning the coveted overall Western Australian Branded Beef Grand Champion for their Stirling Ranges Beef by Butterfield, Stirling Ranges Beef – Bluff Knoll and also winning Champion Bacon for their Frankland River Free Range Rindless Bacon.
Stockyard took out 3 Champion awards winning gold with their Wagyu, Open Beef and Single Origin Beef. Stockyard specialises in the production of grain fed beef, particularly in the high-quality Angus and Wagyu categories.
The trophy for Champion Export Pork and Champion Heritage Breed Pork was awarded to Food Security International – Black Label Berkshire. Based in Corrigin and the pigs bred in Beverley, they have won champion ribbons at Adelaide and Sydney Shows and also in England. Berkshire is the oldest registered pig bred and kept by the Royal family at Windsor Castle for hundreds of years.
When Linton Batt accepted this Award on behalf of Food Security International, he said, this is wonderful, we’re very very excited!
“Thank you to the Royal Agricultural Society of WA for putting on this competition. What I wanted to say about it is that it’s not always about the trophy. What we found from participating for six years here: it actually makes our product better, every day of every year, and the feedback’s been essential for us, so we’re thrilled to have been very very lucky tonight. We’re grateful.”
Other Champions on the night were:
Champion Speciality Dried / Cured Products – Re and Sons – Pancetta Rolled Mild
Champion Jerky/Biltong Strips – Konvict Jerkey – Activated Charcoal with Maple Coffee
Champion Traditional Smallgoods – Barbaro Butchers – Mild Finocchio Cacciatore
Champion Cooked Products – Mondo Butchers & Smallgoods – Mondo Italian Porchetta
Champion Continental Smallgoods Product – Princi Smallgoods – Princi Olive Morta
Robyn Sermon, CEO of RASWA says what sets the Perth Royal Food Awards apart from other competitions is the robust integrity shown throughout the entire process. Not all categories are awarded a champion if the produce is not up to the quality and standard of a champion product.
“These awards provide Western Australian consumers a great guide for selecting WA’s best Christmas ham, best steak or fine salamis for the festive season. If you want to know the best ham to buy for Christmas, you can’t go past the Perth Royal Food Smallgoods Awards, Champion Ham won by Eurostyle Smallgoods for their Traditional Ham on the Bone” she said.
For a full list of 2023 Branded Meat Awards results, visit: Perth Royal Food Branded Meat Awards
For a full list of 2023 Smallgoods Awards results, visit: Perth Royal Food Smallgoods Awards
For Enquiries
Marie Mayer | Community Engagement and Marketing Manager | marketing@raswa.org.au
