Ultimate Butchers Challenge

Professional butchery is not just about cutting meat, it is also about the butcher’s skill in deboning, portioning, creation and display of creative and practical applications, reducing wastes and increasing yields.

The Ultimate Butchers Challenge was held by the Aussie Meat Academy recently at UCSI, Kuala Lumpur, showcasing butchers’ skills.

Designed to advance the butchery profession by enhancing participants’ expertise in meat knowledge, cutting techniques and essential cooking skills, the challenge was supported by Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and Investment New South Wales. There were 16 teams of two each, with at least one member being a professional butcher, who had to work with chilled Australian beef and Australian lamb.

Competitors hailed from Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia. The Grand Champion Butcher EZ Meat (Taiwan) received RM2,000, a trophy and awards certificate while first runner-up Central Food Wholesale Ltd (Thailand) got RM1,000, and second runner-up Butcher Box Pte Ltd (Singapore) got 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.

A strong butcher’s resume should include 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.

The Aussie Meat Academy ‘Ultimate Butchers Challenge’ encourages butchers to learn, innovate, and share new ideas and trends within the industry.

The competition aimed to set a new platform to promote the butchery  profession, professionalism and support the food service and retail 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.

Winners list:

(L to 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.

Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – Grand Champion EZ Meat (Taiwan)
(third from left) Hung Wei Cheng (left) and Chang Wei Yu (middle)

Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – 1st Runner-up:  Central Food Wholesale Ltd (THAILAND), (third from left) Nitiwat Phuengcharoen and Putipong Injai

Ultimate Butchers Challenge 2025 – 2nd Runner-up:  Butcher Box Pte Ltd (SINGAPORE)
(third from left) Lai Chung Leang and Mendiola Aaron Gil Adarve (middle)

Other winners were:

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