The way beef should be
At Coles, our farmers believe that good quality beef doesn’t need added hormones and that’s why all of our Coles Own Brand fresh beef is 100% Aussie with no added hormones.
Coles fresh beef
What's your beef?
When it comes to beef, Coles offers a variety of products to meet our customers’ needs, from Coles GRAZE grass-fed beef, to premium Coles Finest beef.
Beef lovers would argue that each has its own unique taste. And that’s why we provide our customers with a choice.
Coles Finest fresh beef is always 100% Australian with no added hormones. The cattle begin eating grass and are then fed grains such as barley and wheat.
GRAZE; our specialty beef range, is 100% Australian, grass-fed and has no added hormones. Growers adhere to high standards where cattle are free to roam and are not fed grain at all.
Whatever your beef is, if it’s Coles Own Brand fresh beef you can be certain it’s 100% Aussie with no added hormones to help bring you better quality beef.
Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef
Coles has been working with beef farms over the past two years to help reduce their emissions. Pictured is Mark Ritchie, right, a Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef farmer at Delatite Station, Victoria.
Coles has become the first major Australian supermarket to launch an own brand certified carbon neutral beef product . Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef launched on April 20, with seven delicious and premium-quality cuts of beef, from eye fillet to porterhouse steak.
The range is certified carbon neutral, from farm to store, to the Climate Active Carbon Neutral Standard for Products & Services, an Australian Government initiative.
Over the past two years, Coles has been working with beef farmers across Victoria and New South Wales to help calculate and reduce their emissions, resulting in emissions that are 19% below the Australian national average*.
The range will be rolled out in Victoria, and then nationally within 12 months.
Coles CEO Steven Cain said the launch of Coles Finest carbon neutral beef was a great example of Coles working with suppliers to achieve better sustainability outcomes.
“When we announced our Sustainability Strategy just over a year ago, we said we’d work with all our stakeholders to achieve our Together to Zero emissions ambitions and to be Australia’s most sustainable supermarket,” he said.
“Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef is a testament to the hard work of our beef producers and their commitment to sustainable practices, and we’re thrilled that they’re taking this important step with us.”
The packaging for the new beef range is fully recyclable and made from 90% recycled and plant-based sources, an Australian innovation by Coles’ packaging partner Plantic.
Mark and Fenella Ritchie, cattle farmers from Delatite Station in the heart of Victoria’s High Country, have been supplying Coles for 10 years, and are now among the beef producers working with Coles to deliver certified carbon-neutral beef.
“We are really pleased to be part of the carbon-neutral beef project with Coles. We are always looking to produce the finest-quality beef with a strong commitment to environmental and animal welfare values that are backed up with an evidence-based approach to our decision-making,” Mark said.
As part of the carbon neutral beef program, Coles works with farmers to identify ways to reduce emissions from their operations, such as using renewable energy, changing herd management practices for more efficient reproduction and to maximise growth, and use of genetic selection to improve herd health. To help meet the emissions reduction shortfall to achieve carbon neutral status, Coles will purchase carbon offsets.
Coles Finest Certified Carbon Neutral Beef will carry the ‘Climate Active Carbon Neutral – Product’ logo to help customers identify participating products on shelves. Climate Active certification is granted to businesses and organisations that have credibly reached a state of achieving net zero emissions.
*Figure based on average emissions per kilogram of live weight produced.
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Mark Ritchie;
“Here at Mansfield, it’s about six and a half thousand acres, and we run a beef cattle enterprise, one of the great things about the carbon neutral program and certainly working with Coles over the last ten years is that they’re very innovative and they’re actually recognising the work that we’ve done with the carbon neutral program. There’s recognition of the work that we’ve done in terms of our tree planting and encouraging bio diversity fencing of streams, so to be able to recognised for that is gratifying to be honest as a lot of hard works gone into this. Our philosophy on animal welfare is that it’s absolutely paramount in our business and its probably right up there with one of the most important things that we’ve got to make sure is right, just from an ethical point of view, we care a lot about the animals they have to be healthy, if the animals aren’t healthy and happy then they don’t produce for us and I get a lot of satisfaction and enjoyment driving around the place looking at really healthy cattle. We’ve done a full assessment of our carbon footprint for the farm and specifically for our beef enterprise and it’s highlighted a number of areas
where we can improve and I think it’s an exciting program. We really want to continue as a family farm and were very aware of that and hopefully the kids will see an opportunity here and keep going.”
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Wybalena
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Daniel Mathie
“It’s very exciting to be collaborating with Coles on this next project and adventure of becoming closer to becoming carbon neutral. It’s a really exciting time to be at the forefront of the industry and leading the carbon neutral beef initiative and looking at areas within our property where we can be reducing emissions and becoming more efficient with our heard. Here at Wybalena we're a big priority is sustainability so solar panels are just one part of that so were not relying on fossil fuels as much, renewable sources were moving towards. It helps us with what we do across the whole farm.”
Andrew Mathie
“My wish for the future, is to be able to pass the farm on to future generations in better conditions than what it was when we came here and in a way, that’s going to be sustainable for the future.”
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What does grass-fed really mean?
At Coles, it means our cattle are free to graze on pastures and are never fed grain.
GRAZE beef producer, Nigel Stephens says ‘the secret to grass-fed beef is that there is no secret’. Our pasture-fed cattle are raised naturally and raised with care. Customers should be happy knowing that they have been grass-fed and not finished on grain – while ensuring they can be confident about where it comes from.'
What’s good for farmers is good for Australia, too. Because Nigel’s farm of grass-fed Angus and Hereford cattle is just one of over 100 farms across the country that help Coles offer quality GRAZE beef all year round – from porterhouse and scotch to stir fry and mince.
So the next time you see Coles GRAZE Beef in store, remember, its’ grass-fed, 100% Aussie and with no added hormones.
How to make roast beef
Perfect for Sunday lunch, the classic beef roast is a family favourite. We'll walk you through the steps from start to finish so you nail it every time.
How to cook roast beef
Stand beef at room temperature for 30 mins before roasting. This will help with the beef cooking evenly.
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees celsius. Brush beef with oil and season well with sea salt flakes and freshly ground pepper. Place beef in a roasting pan and place in the oven 15 mins to roast.
Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees celsius and roast for a further 25-30 minutes per 500g for medium. To check the meat is cooked to your liking use some tongs to press the beef, if it is springy it would be cooked to medium.
Remove the beef from the oven and cover with foil. Stand to rest for 20 mins. Use a carving fork to hold the beef roast steady and a large sharp knife to cut the beef into slices. Make sure you carve the beef across the grain to prevent the juices escaping from the meat.
Shop our beef
Learn more about our other growers and suppliers
Working with the RSPCA, we offer a range of humanely farmed chickens, grown on farms that must meet strict animal welfare standards and provide an enriched environment for chickens to grow.
We’ve worked with our farmers and suppliers to ensure all of our Coles Own Brand fresh pork is sow stall-free and free from artificial growth promotants.
We believe you can’t rush quality. So we’ve partnered with expert French baker, Laurent Boillon, to create our Coles Finest 30 Hour Sourdough Range.
Right across the store, from seafood in the deli to frozen fish in the freezers, all of our Coles Own Brand seafood is responsibly sourced – so whatever you buy, you’ll always know you’re making a better choice for our oceans.
