Juniper
Top winners of Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025
(L-R) 1st Runner-up Central Food Wholesale Ltd (THAILAND), Grand Champion EZ Meat (TAIWAN)
2nd Runner-up Butcher Box Pte Ltd (SINGAPORE) flanked by (from left) Valeska Regional Manager – South East Asia, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Head Judge Khairul Anuar Muhamad,
(from right) MLA Malaysia Country Rep & Singapore Trade Development Manager Rose Yong, MLA Senior Technical Specialist Calvin Gung, Trade and Investment Director (Malaysia) for Investment NSW Alia Jaafar.
Professional butchery needs an uplift in this country as trained butchers are increasingly hard to find. To reinvigorate and grow the profession, the Aussie Meat Academy recently held the Ultimate Butchers Challenge in Kuala Lumpur.
Professional butchery is not just about cutting meat, it also showcases the butcher’s skill in deboning, portioning, creation and display of creative and practical applications, reducing wastes and increasing yields.
The Aussie Meat Academy ‘Ultimate Butchers Challenge’ is designed to advance the butchery profession by enhancing participants’ expertise in meat knowledge, cutting techniques, and essential cooking skills. The challenge is supported by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), Investment New South Wales, and hosted at UCSI University, Malaysia.
The butchers taking part in the challenge have to have at least a year’s experience in their profession, and aged 40 and below. There were 16 teams of two each, with at least one member being a professional butcher. Each team was provided with one chilled Australian beef and one Australian lamb cut to work with which were judged and tasted. The teams were from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.
The Grand Champion Butcher EZ Meat (Taiwan) received RM2,000, a trophy and awards certificate. The first runner-up Central Food Wholesale Ltd (Thailand) got RM1,000, and the second runner-up Butcher Box Pte Ltd (Singapore) RM800. Both runners-up also received a trophy and award certificates.
There were also prizes of RM200 each for Best Meat Display Ideas, Best Value Added Meat Ideas, Best Ultimate Tasting Dish and Best Presented Dish. The competition is to encourage and set a new platform to promote the butchery profession, professionalism and to support the foodservice and retail industry.
A strong butcher’s resume includes tasks like cutting and de-boning meat, preparing displays, weighing and labelling products, reducing waste, and increasing yields.
However, to be a competent butcher, he should be familiar with all beef and lamb cuts for various cooking methods and share this knowledge with customers, while precision cutting helps maximise yield, minimise waste, and improve eating quality for shoppers.
(third from left) Lai Chung Leang and Mendiola Aaron Gil Adarve (middle)
The Aussie Meat Academy ‘Ultimate Butchers Challenge’ encourages butchers to learn, innovate, and share new ideas and trends within the industry. The competing teams for the Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 were judged by a panel of 5 led by Khairul Anuar Muhamad as Head Judge, himself being Lambassador & Senior Lecturer II at Taylor’s Culinary Institute, Faculty of Social Sciences and Leisure
Management; Adrian Chong, Aussie Beef Mate & Executive Chef Hyatt Regency Kinabalu; Ridzwan Rasit, Lambassador & Executive Sous Chef, Hilton Kuala Lumpur; Eric Siew, Lambassador & owner / Executive Chef of ABANICO Your Deli Restaurant; Richard Tay, Aussie Beef Mate & Head Chef at CALIA, Pavilion Kuala Lumpur.
Here are the overall results:-
Aussie Meat Academy Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 Winners’ List
Grand Champion : EZ Meat (TAIWAN)
1st Runner Up : Central Food Wholesale Ltd (THAILAND)
2nd Runner Up : Butcher Box Pte Ltd (SINGAPORE)
Best Knives Skills : Village Grocer Malaysia
Best Meat Utilization and Yield : AEON RETAIL Malaysia
Best Meat Preparation : PT. RESWARA MASYA MANA, Malaysia
Best Ultimate Dish : EQ Hotel Kuala Lumpur
Most Innovative Meat Display & Presentation : EZ Meat Taiwan
Additional Awards : RM200 + certificates
Special Tajima Beef Dish Award : Ben’s Grocer, Malaysia
Lambassadors Choice Award : Jaya Grocer 1, Malaysia
Innovation Award : Hilton Kuala Lumpur
