A study from consumer group Choice has found that beef steaks from Australian supermarkets rate as highly as some expensive butcher cuts. Choice commissioned three butchers with a combined experience of 75 years to test steak from Aldi, Coles and Woolworths against beef from a premium and a budget butcher. They included cuts of rump, sirloin, T-bone, scotch fillets, blade and eye fillet and graded them according to colour, marbling and fat.
The results revealed yesterday showed that Coles had the best T-bone steak, Aldi the best rump and Woolworths the top sirloin steak. The premium butcher scored best in the scotch fillet category. The blade steak and eye fillet scored evenly from all retailers.
According to Choice spokeswoman Ingrid Just, a good steak means it is firm to touch, not slimy, with a bright red-cherry colour and even marbling. She added the whiteness of the bone revealed the freshness of the cut - the duller the bone, the older it is. She said, “Despite some claims that supermarket butchers are inexperienced or poorly trained, the surprise result from our study was the impressive standard of the chain store cuts and the inconsistency in the quality of offering from the premium butcher.”
The judges said that understanding the jargon in meat labelling and knowing what to look for when selecting your steak is the best way to guarantee quality. The Meat Standards Australia (MSA) has developed labels that include a MSA grade, (‘tenderness guaranteed’, ‘premium tenderness’ or ‘supreme tenderness’) ageing information and the cooking method for best results. According to latest legislation claims such as ‘grain-fed’ or ‘organic’ must be accurate and proven.
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