The Irish beat teams from Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, France, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA.
Each team had just three hours and 15 minutes to turn a side of beef, a side of pork, a whole lamb and five chickens into a themed display.
Speaking to GlobalMeatNews, team captain Garrett Landers said the win was incredible and put Ireland on the map.
“We’re hoping that this accolade will help to spread the word of the world-class quality of Irish and Northern Irish produce across the globe.”
He praised his team members for the effort put in to the competition. “We started out as six strangers but now we’re a family. The entire team has been amazing.”
The New Zealand team came in second place, while Australia came third.
Head judge of the competition, Todd Heller from New Zealand, said: “The results from the top five ranked teams were extremely close and the standard overall was exceptional. We are thrilled to have grown the World Butchers’ Challenge to 12 teams this year, from four in 2016, and are focused on building an even greater World Butchers’ Challenge in 2020.”
Six butchers were chosen from all of the teams as the World Team. These are Eamon Etherson from Ireland, Angel Naidener from Bulgaria, Adam Stratton from Australia, Corey Winder from New Zealand, Francesca Camassa, Italy and Phillipe Lalanda from France.
The World Champion Young Butcher and Apprentice competition was also held, with Thomas Guyomar from France winning the World Champion Young Butcher title and Samantha Weller from New Zealand announced as the World Champion Butcher Apprentice.
Product awards:
• Best Pork Product: Ireland
• Best Lamb Product: France
• Best Beef Product: Great Britain
• Best Poultry Product: New Zealand
• Best Beef Sausage: Ireland
• Best Pork Sausage: Australia
• Best Gourmet Sausage: Australia
• Best Burger: Greece
• Best Hygiene/Health & Safety Award: Australia
The World Butchers’ Challenge took place at Meat@IFEX in Belfast.