Jayne McMillan, Business Analyst at Emydex New Zealand, was selected as one of the judges at this year’s World Steak Challenge in Amsterdam.
Launched in 2015, the World Steak Challenge has become an international benchmark for steak quality. This year, more than 450 steaks were judged blind by a carefully selected panel of meat experts from different countries and professional backgrounds, including chefs, butchers, retailers and representatives of industry bodies.
How the judging works
Every steak is coded, so the producer’s name and country of origin stay anonymous until judging is complete. Each one is scored on raw criteria, including appearance, colour, marbling and fat trim, and on cooked criteria, including aroma, flavour, succulence, tenderness and texture.
Jayne sat down at her judging table knowing nothing about whose meat she was assessing.
Over three decades in food processing
Jayne was listed on the panel for her butchery business, The Fridge Butchery & Homekill, in New Zealand’s South Island. It is one part of a career of more than three decades in food processing.
She started in the meat industry straight after a Microbiology degree and went on to work in laboratory management, quality assurance (including a period in Los Angeles), technical systems development and a large ERP project. She trained as a Meat Inspector, qualified as a trade butcher, and joined Emydex in 2024.
After an entire career in the meat industry, it would have to be my broad knowledge base of the entire process, from the farm to the consumer, both in a practical sense and MES systems.”
From Jayne’s table to World’s Best Steak
It was an absolute privilege to be chosen as a judge at the World Steak Challenge in Amsterdam this year. I met a lot of people with incredible backgrounds and industry knowledge who will be acquaintances for a lifetime.”
The title of World’s Best Steak went to the Senku Pure Wagyu Fillet from Paradigm Foods in Australia, which also won World’s Best Grain Fed Fillet. For Jayne, it was the highlight of the event.
The biggest highlight would be having the World’s Best Steak, a fillet from Paradigm in Australia, at my judging table and, through our team’s process, enabling it to be judged again to win supreme.”
Back to the plant floor
At Emydex, Jayne works with processors in Australasia on their MES systems. Much of that is helping them keep up with changing overseas market access requirements, which means more data to record and more compliance to meet, with food safety always first. She uses her industry background to keep things simple for operators, so the system fits production and cuts down screen tasks.
Congratulations, Jayne.
