THE East Gippsland family-owned Wuk Wuk Beef brand topped the Open division of the Small Producer Grass Fed Class and won a Gold Medal at the Royal Melbourne Fine Foods judging last week.
Grassvale Farms took out the class and a Gold medal on their first attempt at the nationally acclaimed competition.
With judges’ comments including good eye, good fat cover and superb flavour, there were many happy faces among the Treasure family when the results were announced, paddock to plate manager Peter Treasure said.
The win means Wuk Wuk Beef is in the running for a championship medal to be announced in September.
The Sirloin (Porterhouse) sample supplied was aged for six weeks, as are most of the premium Wuk Wuk Beef cuts sold to the premium restaurants and general consumers from the farm.
A Gold medal in this competition is the pinnacle of the beef industry when it comes to credibility of product to our customers, Peter said.
He credited the hard work of 40 years of breeding for creating the herd’s genetics to get to this point and said father Ken had worked most of his life to build the herd.
The genetics are near perfect for a solid commercial Murray Grey breed and with Ken’s continued care this gene pool is likely to be a solid base for years to come, Peter said.
“It is only then that the careful aging of the beef can give such a premium finished product.”
The results prove cattle selection can still be done by eye and the finish of our beef is dictated by the control of process throughout, Peter said.
“I have no doubt that if we did not control that process, we would not be where we are today winning a Gold medal in such a prestigious competition.”
Grassvale Farms, home of Wuk Wuk Beef, has been in the Treasure family since 1900.
There is a HACCP certified boning room on farm and they age our beef in a cool room that has Himalayan Rock Salt in it and UV lights to add to the product’s preservation.
“We were ecstatic with the win as it confirmed our belief that we had some of the best beef available,” Peter said.
“Our credibility for consistency is already high amongst the restaurant trade in Melbourne and locally, but a Gold Medal is the pinnacle of acceptance by the food industry that we have an exceptional product.”
