Gatton Meat Centre home to royalty

A GATTON butchery has snagged the top prize for its sausages at the Australian Meat Industry Council competition.

Gatton Meat Centre has been dubbed the 2012 Queensland Regional Sausage King after winning first place in the Traditional Australian Pork section for the Gold Coast and Hinterland region.

Gatton Meat Centre owner Joel Schmidt said this was the first time the shop had entered the competition.

"We have been here for 10 years now and never entered anything so I thought it was time we gave it a try," he said.

Mr Schmidt said the snags, which were prepared by the team at the shop, were judged based on their visual appearance, texture, taste and presentation.

He said the secret to their success was using good- quality ingredients.

"We didn't change the recipe for the competition. It's our traditional, everyday sausages that you can buy in the store," he said.

Mr Schmidt said customer support played a big role in pushing the business to enter the competition.

"We are always busy here and our customers give us good feedback, which I guess gave us the drive to give it a try," he said.

After having a taste for success, he said the butchery was now looking to enter its ham, bacon and kabana in the Brisbane Show.

In the meantime, he is preparing to defend the Sausage King title at the state titles, which will be held at the RNA showgrounds in two weeks time.