A beef producer in Arkansas has taken home one of the top awards for its steaks at the 2023 World Steak Challenge. The World Steak Challenge gives steak producers from across the globe a unique opportunity to benchmark product quality, breed credentials and processing standards on an international stage.

Creekstone Farms took home the title of North America's Best Steak for its Ribeye Wet-Aged Steak at the awards ceremony. Backed by USDA-recognized G-schedule programs for third-party quality verification, Creekstone Farms is known for its commitment to delivering high-quality 100% Black Angus Beef with its refined feeding techniques and sustainable crate-free practices.

Australia has claimed the overall title of the producer of the World's Best Steak. Australian producer Jack's Creek took home the accolade for its grain-fed wagyu black angus cross sirloin, which was also named the World's Best Sirloin and World's Best Grain-Fed Steak, as well as Oceania's Best Steak.

Jack's Creek cattle are bred and raised on the natural pastures that surround Willow Tree in central New South Wales. They are then finished on a blend of grains, hay and silage. Its steaks are served in some of the U.S.'s top steakhouses and restaurants, including Bascom's Chop House in Clearwater, Fla., Komodo in Miami, and iWagyu in California.

World Steak Challenge winners:

• World's Best Steak, Oceania's Best Steak & Best Sirloin - Jack's Creek Australian Cross Breed Wagyu Sirloin.
• Asia's Best Steak & World's Best Wagyu Steak - Ito Wagyu A5+ Japanese Sirloin - Itoham Yonekyu Holdings.
• Europe's Best Steak & World's Best Filet Steak - Norland Heifer German Filet - Danish Crown.
• North America's Best Steak - Creekstone Farms Ribeye Wet-Aged Steak from the USA.
• South America Best Steak - Argentina Signature Ribeye Steak - Azul Natural Beef.
• World's Best Ribeye Steak - 55-Day Aged Ribeye from New Zealand - Alliance Group.

The winners were crowned at a dinner held the evening of Nov. 13, 2023, at Steakhouse Smith & Wollensky following a two-day judging process held in September at Vlees & Co. Steakhouse in Amsterdam.

A total of 346 medals were awarded to steaks at this year's World Steak Challenge, including a record 134 gold medals, with 120 steaks given silver medals and 92 steaks given bronze medals. Australia took home the most gold medals, with 18 steaks from the country awarded the accolade. Ireland had the greatest medal haul with 67 steaks awarded a gold, silver or bronze award.

Australia's Jack's Creek is no stranger to awards. Last year, it was the winner in the Ribeye category and the winner of the 2021 Best Filet, Best Ribeye and Best Grain-Fed categories.

"This year's competition saw the highest standard of entries yet, with a record number of gold entries, but one particular steak stood out from the pack," said Restaurant Editor and World Steak Challenge Judge Stefan Chomka. "Congratulations to Jack's Creek for its outstanding steak and to all the winners in the other categories. The global nature of this competition and the high quality of entrants demonstrates a true desire across the world to produce some top quality cuts of steak that are testament to the hard work that goes into beef production."

"What a wonderful recognition and so deserved from all the people who are working so hard at Creekstone Farms," said Patrick Pouw, manager of Nice to Meat International. "The farm has the genetics, the feeding options, and the facilities to process the cattle in a humane way. We are thrilled that Creekstone won the gold medal."

Judges at this year's challenge included Richie Wilson, culinary director of Fire Steakhouse & Bar in Dublin, Ioannis Grammenos, executive chef and meatologist of Heliot Steak House in London, Paul Foster, chef-patron of Michelin-starred Salt in Stratford and GrassFed in Camden, Abdulrahman Alswailem, chef-owner of Marble in Riyadh, currently ranked number 23 in Mena's Best Restaurants, and Katie Doherty, CEO at the International Meat Trade Association.

Source: The World Steak Challenge