Best of the Beef Butcher Contest Application Closes April 1, 2022

The Northeast Beef Promotion Initiative’s second annual Best of the Beef Butcher Contest is set to take place on May 12th, 2022, during the annual PA Association Meat Processor conference at the Penn State Meat Lab in State College, PA. 

The Best Beef Butcher Contest is an event designed to celebrate the skills, knowledge and value independent butchers and meat processors bring to the overall beef supply chain. 

The largest portion of the contestants’ scores are derived from the 30-minute cutting portion where they’re asked to break down a beef subprimal, fabricating the beef value cuts. 

Contestants are judged on the following criteria:  

• Accuracy - how accurately do they fabricate the desired beef value cuts? 
• Technique - knife skills/efficiency of movement, safety technique, portioning, denuding and trimming.  
•  Visual appeal - how well do they visually merchandise, label and display their cuts for the consumer?  
• Yield - how much yield do they achieve from fabricating out these beef value cuts as compared to the subprimal starting weight? 
•  Consumer Sales Pitch - how well does the contestant deliver a concise, factual, appealing and persuasive sales pitch for the particular beef value cut they will be asked by the judges to ‘sell’ to a hypothetical customer within a 2-minute timeframe?

Lastly, each contestant is asked to correctly identify a selection of 15 fresh beef cuts, which are geared towards testing their general knowledge of beef cuts from the entire beef carcass. 

Participation in contest is open to any processor in good standing with PAMP, and is planning on attending the 2022 Pennsylvania Association of Meat Processors (PAMP) Conference. Applicants must be located within the northeast region (Maine to Virginia), only one applicant per establishment, and be 18 years or older. 

Contest applications are now open and will close on April 1, 2022. To learn more about the contest or contestant eligibility; visit our website nebpi.org. 

Know a beef butcher who would want to compete? Email [email protected] or call 814-623-2698 to learn how to apply. 

Media Contact: Samantha Augustine [email protected]  or visit the NEBPI website. 

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 The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA Approval.