Butchery Team Canada at the 2025 World Butchers’ Challenge

Earlier this year, Alberta Pork had the honour of serving as a regional sponsor for Butchery Team Canada at the 2025 World Butchers’ Challenge (WBC), held March 30–31, 2025 in Paris, France. Known as the “Olympics of Meat,” this prestigious event brought together 18 of the world’s best national butchery teams to compete in an intense display of craftsmanship, precision, and creativity.

We are incredibly proud to share that Butchery Team Canada ranked 5th in the world—a remarkable achievement that highlights the team’s talent, hard work, and dedication to their craft.

As the provincial organization representing Alberta’s hog producers, Alberta Pork was thrilled to support Team Canada on this global stage. Our sponsorship reflects our core commitment to excellence, innovation, and promoting the people who help bring Alberta pork from farms to tables across the world.

Representing Alberta on the team was Edmonton’s own Corey Meyer of Acme Meat Market—a third-generation butcher and NAIT Retail Meat Cutting graduate. Corey joined an elite group of Canadian butchers, including co-captains Peter Baarda and Taryn Barker, each bringing their unique strengths and deep industry experience.

During the challenge, teams were tasked with breaking down a side of beef, a side of pork, a whole lamb, and five chickens in just three and a half hours. From those primal cuts, they created retail-ready, value-added products under a unifying theme, judged on technique, innovation, presentation, and marketability. Team Canada’s outstanding performance earned them global recognition and reinforced Canada’s growing reputation for excellence in butchery.