Following their success in this year's Commercial Beef Carcass Competition held at The Royal Show (Warwickshire), two champion carcasses will be on sale as prime cuts of beef at their local Sainsbury's store.
The competition organised by Royal Agricultural Society of England, sponsored by Sainsbury's & ABP, was judged by an executive panel that included Tony Ashton of DEFRA and Julien Pursglove of Sainsbury's.
The winning carcasses were displayed at the Royal Show 2006 for the duration of the show and then auctioned. Sainsbury's secured the champion and reserve champion carcasses with the highest bids of £2000 and £1220 respectively.
The champion carcass – a Belgian Blue / Limousin cross heifer, graded an E3 and weighing 392.4 kg produced by Frank Page of Elkington – will be on sale in Sainsbury's Weedon Road (Weedon Road, Northampton, NN5 5BB), while the reserve champion - a Belgian Blue/Angus / Limousin heifer, also an E3 and weighing 387.3 kg produced by Tom Howells of Farlow Kidderminster – will go on sale at Sainsbury's Banbury (Banbury, Oxford Road OX16 9XA).
Of the competition Mr Ashton of DEFRA stated
"This year there were even more entries in both classes than previous. The standard was very high, especially in the heifer class. In fact this year it was the heifers placed first and second, that also took Supreme Champion and Reserve positions."
Julien Pursglove of Sainsbury's commented
"We were delighted to win the auction for these champion carcasses and will be putting them in store so our customers are able to enjoy the prime meat. The standards at this years competition were extremely high and we are confident that these carcasses will eat very well."
The Royal Show is the most prestigious agricultural event of the year celebrating all aspects of farming and rural life, from the best of British livestock to the latest business and technological innovations in the farming industry.
The carcasses will be sold on the counter, with the main cuts on offer being sirloin, topside, silverside, fillet, rump and ribeye.
