The Challenge is intended to be a valuable tool available to all breeders to help assess their carcass values. Each entrant will receive a printout of their individual and total steak evaluations. On the entry form, the entrant has the freedom to decide if their information will be published or non-published. The top 5 in each category will be released. This year each steak will undergo over a thousand dollars worth of testing and analysis; Japanese Carcass Camera, Complete Fatty Acid Profile, Warner Bratzler Shear Force Test, lipid extraction, and a Professional Taste Panel.

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   Winners will be announced online and via our mailing list towards the end of September. The steaks auctioned will be those steak entries that scored in the Top 5 Overall. We will post photos of the winning Top 10 entries online. Subscribe to our mailing list to see the first rounds of winners and follow them to the top. We hope you will join us in supporting the research this event brings proving the superior carcass values of Wagyu and Wagyu influenced cattle.

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  Our new addition to the Challenge is the measurement of Total Intramuscular Fat Content (IMF). The connection between IMF and the eating experience of beef are well proven and very positive. This measurement along with the fatty acid composition also allows us to estimate the total availability of Monounsaturated Fatty Acids (MUFAs), particularly Oleic acid, in the steak which have demonstrated health benefits for consumers.

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  Our team of experts unanimously decided to add more scoring value to the Professional Taste Panel. Texas Tech University has numerous categories for the Professional Taste Panel evaluation bringing it closer to objective measurements. When the team discussed the score distributions, it was decided the top categories would be geared toward the overall steak experience the consumer would receive. The winners will be Steaks that are real Champions, taking beef enthusiasts to a new level of the sensory taste experience.

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The grading categories have the following point allocations:

Camera 30

Warner Bratzler Shear Force 7.5

Complete Fatty Acid Profile 20

Lipid Extraction 7.5

Sensory Panel (Professional Taste Panel) 35

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