From: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24870308-1248,00.html

IT'S the mammoth meat competition to test the hungriest of carnivores. Hog's Breath Cafe at Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane, is challenging customers to eat Queensland's biggest steak. In a contest sure to have vegetarians spitting chips, beef-eaters have been chowing down on steaks big enough to feed a family of six.

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The competition was launched four months ago by the restaurant's owner, Steve Duke, when he was left with a 585g steak and challenged himself to eat it all.

Since then a series of meat lovers have taken up the gauntlet, culminating in a mighty effort this week by Sunday Mail reporter Mitch Gaynor, who managed to devour a 1.6kg prime rib - costing a whopping $119 - and earn his place on the restaurant's roll of honour.

Mr Duke says his customers love the spectacle. "It just adds a bit of fun and it's a bit of a laugh," he said.

You can take as long as you want and even visit the toilet - but you do have to eat everything on your plate.

So if you order salad and fries, they must be gone too, before you can claim victory.

Success results in your photo on a plate framed in the restaurant's Meat Hall of Fame, an "Eat Me" Hog's Breath T-shirt, and a large bill, with challengers charged an extra $7 for every 100g above the standard-sized steak.

While the competition is promoted as a bit of fun, health experts have warned regularly consuming large quantities of red meat can be dangerous.

"It's high in kilojoules and saturated fat, so it ups the risk of heart disease and stroke," said dietitian Melanie Grice, from Health Kick, the vitamin retail chain.

Ms Grice said our reporter had eaten between five and eight weeks of his recommended red meat allowance by taking the challenge.

"One serve of red meat is 100g and we only need two to three serves a week, so he's had 16 serves in one sitting," she said.

The excessive serve also caused Mitch's blood pressure to jump from 121/69 to 139/94.

Ms Grice said the hefty meal would not have any long-term effects but recommended Mitch perform some serious exercise to burn off the extra kilojoules - all 26,935 of them - more than three times the recommended daily intake.

MITCH Gaynor put his stomach to the test by taking on the challenge to eat his way through 1.6kg of slow-cooked prime rib. And chips. And salad.

Gaynor, an intrepid reporter for The Sunday Mail, was confident until the monster arrived at the table.

Proof the steak was 1.6kg.

Mitch digs in.

Mitch Gaynor with his 1.6kg challenge.

He starts to carve the mountain of meat.

Stuff the salad.

You can take as long as you want and even visit the toilet but you do have to eat everything on your plate.

Success results in your photo on a plate framed in the restaurant's Meat Hall of Fame, an "Eat Me" Hog's Breath T-shirt, and an exceptionally large bill, with challengers charged an extra $7 for every 100g above the standard-sized steak.

Nearly an hour later, with just 400g of lukewarm beef standing between him and victory, Mitch says he started to doubt himself.

By the halfway mark, Mitch was starting to look green.

"Stop now and I'd be labelled a failure," he said. "On the other hand, if I kept eating, I could die."

Self-preservation was starting to kick in, so close to victory.

So he took inspiration from Sam Neill, who - in advertisements funded by meat farmers - insisted that eating red meat drove evolution forward

Mitch concedes that he's increased his risk of long-term side effects but he's also won a personal challenge.

And his plate's up on the dining room wall.