A meat producer from Northern Ireland has won the award for the World's Best Grass-Fed Steak.

Linden Foods in Dungannon, Co. Tyrone, was awarded one of the top six steak prizes for its full-bred Dexter ribeye in a ceremony at Dublin's Mansion House on Wednesday night.

The award-winning company, jointly owned by APB Food Group, lost out to a 'melt in the mouth' Japanese Wagyu steak for overall winner.

Ireland, however, took home the most medals with a total of 54 gongs, followed by England with 36 and Finland with 28.

Elaine Willis, the retail director of Linden Foods, said: "It is an amazing accolade. To say that our product has been judged as the World's Best Grass-Fed steak is testament to the quality of Irish beef, that it is up there as the very best in the world.

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"Irish grass-fed beef has always been of a high quality and what we tried to do is make the really good absolutely exceptional.

"Our business is relentlessly invested in improving our standard of beef," she said.

"It's all down to our procurement team, who have worked for years with local farmers to develop Dexter beef. It's not just one single thing, but it's their care regime and focus on genetics and diet to make sure we have the very best beef. They have been amazing."

Asked what she thinks will be the impact of winning this award, Ms Willis said: "Dexter beef is a very niche old traditional Irish breed that is slower grown and extremely marbled which adds a lot of intensity and flavour. Getting this recognition will get Dexter beef back out there and known to the public."

Sold in Marks & Spencer, the 30-day matured ribeye steak was described by judges as being "very tender and rich".

Irish meat manufacturers ABP Ireland and Ashbourne Meats took home 20 medals between them at the awards. ABP won seven golds, six silvers and four bronzes while Ashbourne Meats won two golds and one silver.

The World Steak Challenge 2022, organised by William Reed, the publisher of the World's 50 Best Restaurants, had a rigorous decision-making process with a full day's worth of technical judging at Dublin's Fire Steakhouse & Bar. More than 60 independent experts judged the steaks, both raw and cooked.

Now in its eighth year, the competition received more entries than ever before from worldwide meat suppliers. The awards took place in conjunction with official host partner Bord Bia.

The first-time entry Japanese Akune Gold sirloin steak, which took home the overall prize, is from a 30-month-old female cow that was raised in the Kagoshima region on the island of Kyushu. The A4 grade ultra-premium quality beef produced by Starzen Co also scooped the prizes for World's Best Sirloin and Grain-Fed Steak.

Meanwhile, a Polish Holstein and Black Angus cross from MFC Carni won the award for World's Best Fillet.