The judges of this year's Wagyu Branded Beef Competition are going to have their work cut out for them, with a whopping 47 entries vying for top honours.
Entries have now closed for the highly-regarded Australian Wagyu Association (AWA) competition, which aims to celebrate the uniqueness of Wagyu meat.
This is the 11th year of the competition, with entries coming from a massive 31 Wagyu brands.
The entries in the three categories - fullblood, crossbred and commercial - will be judged on March 15 by 30 world class chefs, butchers, scientists and industry expert.
The judges will individually score flavour, aroma, tenderness and overall liking for every brand entry.
The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony in Melbourne on April 28.
Last year Stone Axe Pastoral claimed the top gong for the second year running.
The winning entry in last year's awards was the grand champion steak from a fullblood black steer, which had been fed for 350 days and processed at John Dee, Warwick.
The judges described the entry as having "unbelievable richness, complex flavours of sweetness, dairy and cereal, melt in your mouth juiciness with an exquisite tender and silky finish".
The grand champion Stone Axe steak had 54 per cent marbling, 75.1 marbling fineness and a 99 square centimetre eye muscle area.
Stone Axe has operations at both Ebor in northern NSW and at Kojonup in Western Australia.
AWA marketing and communications manager Emily Rabone said the competition was the only Wagyu-specific competition globally supported by the peak industry body promoting the sector.
"It is an opportunity for the leading Wagyu brand owners to benchmark their brand against their peers in an environment that celebrates the best of Australian Wagyu," she said.
"The competition promotes the unique quality attributes of Wagyu beef - beautiful soft luxury beef, uniquely high in fine unsaturated marbling fat that gives the best eating experience on the planet.
"It's incomparable to any other beef product.
"Wagyu is very different in quality and eating experience to any other meat, tracing its origins to unique Japanese ancestry.
"Its reputation as the finest meat has grown widely, with Australian Wagyu exported to demanding consumers around the world."
Ms Rabone said Australia produced 90pc of the world's Wagyu exports.
"The brands we support are the leaders of our sector," she said.
"We collate an enormous amount of data and present our awards at the annual Wagyu Gala Dinner event at the WagyuEdge conference.
"Around 500 people attend, representing the leading edge of the global Wagyu community, and come together to celebrate the pinnacle of the Wagyu beef production."
