Rangers Valley claims Darling Downs Beef Battle title

The event, hosted by Toowoomba and Surat Basin Enterprise Food Leaders Australia, saw 10 beef companies battle to be named the best branded beef of the Darling Downs.

The trophy was awarded at the end of the evening based on the scores from diners' blind taste tests.

Entrants included last year's champion NH Foods, Mort & Co, Rangers Valley, Stanbroke, JBS Australia, John Dee, Stockyard Beef, Arcadian Organics & Natural Meat Co, Maranoa Beef and Kilcoy Global Foods.

TSBE Food Leaders Australia general manager Bruce McConnel said the event was a great chance to showcase the region's best beef.

"This is Australia's largest taste testing competition, with 324 judges," he said.

Rangers Valley ultimately took out the overall title of Darling Downs Beef Battle Champion, also claiming the award for best grain-fed beef.

Owned by the Marubeni Corporation of Japan, the Rangers Valley feedlot at Glen Innes, NSW specialises in long fed pure Black Angus and Wagyu cattle, with an operating capacity of 33,000.

Rangers Valley managing director Keith Howe said they were very pleased to come out on top in the event.

"We have a lot of passionate people that are all collaborating across the supply chain and to see our premium Angus brand, being our Blackmarket, we're really, really pleased with it," he said.

"About 20 per cent of our product finishes on a domestic market but we're really export-orientated with 80 per cent of our business on export and we're very much focused on a diversified portfolio of countries so we're just getting that brand business out there."

Cattle are procured from leading Angus breeders in locations across the eastern seaboard including in Victoria, southern NSW and south-east SA and put through a 270-day grain fed program at Glen Innes and then processed at John Dee abattoir at Warwick.

Winning the accolade for best grass-fed beef was Arcadian Organic and Natural Meat Co's brand Cleaver's.

Arcadian marketing director Paul da Silva said it was great to be recognised in that way.

"We have confidence in the product, but you never know," he said.

"It was a fantastic event."

Beef for the Cleaver's brand, Arcadian's key domestic retail product, is 100 per cent organic, with the company boasting Australia's largest certified organic producer network.

Clifford Park chef Olaf Pfiefer said he was very impressed with the quality of the beef brands and noted that the Rangers Valley Blackmarket had amazing marbling.

"Even when I opened the bags and looked at the first cut of it, I said 'wow'," he said.

"There are some brands I had never heard about... with those brands here, I would love to do more and cook more with them."

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