Meat+Poultry - July 2019 - iffa - 11

bring the judges here to the US to judge
our products."
All entries were graded on appearance, consistency, smell and taste. The
competition received more than 460 entries from 42 companies across the US.
"Our members compete every year
against each other in their state cured
meats competitions as well as our national competition, the American Cured
Meats Championships," Young said.
"They wanted to compete internationally and see how their products compared
to those of butchers around the world.
Winning an international award can go a
long way with helping them market their
products to the local communities they
are in."
The competition winners included:
* Champion - Louie's Finer Meats,
Cumberland, Wisconsin: 31 gold
* Grand Prize for sausage - Louie's
Finer Meats, Cumberland, Wisconsin:
25 gold
* 2nd prize for sausage - RJ's Meats,
Hudson, Wisconsin: 18 gold
* Grand Prize for ham - RJ's Meats,
Hudson, Wisconsin: 10 gold

* 2nd prize for ham - Tiefenthaler Quality Meats, Holstein, Iowa: 9 gold
"With an award from the German
Butchers' Association, our members
demonstrate the international competitiveness and quality of their products,"
Young said.
In addition to participating in the
competition, AAMP members were also
invited to contribute to presentations
during the IFFA show. Young shared
insights about American craft butchers
during an IFFA Forum session on the
show floor. The German Butchers' Association also asked AAMP members to
lead a cutting demonstration of traditional US steak cuts for IFFA attendees.
Doug Hankes of Galesburg, Illinoisbased Thrushwood Farms Quality Meats
and Jon Frohling of Rapid City, South
Dakota-based ScottPec Inc. also shared
their expertise regarding the growing US
meat snack and jerky category.
And to wrap up their time at IFFA,
AAMP members were invited to tour a
number of German butcher shops and
small processing facilities.
"IFFA is a great opportunity to see

how other cultures operate and see the
new trends emerging in our industry,"
said Shelly Tiefenthaler, owner of
Tiefenthaler Quality Meats. "Visiting the
German meat markets, we learned that
customer relations is the backbone of
the German meat business. Watching
the German butchers interact with their
customers has inspired us to do a better
job at home."
However, the AAMP/DFV collaboration doesn't stop now that IFFA 2019 is
over. In fact, the two organizations plan
to keep their partnership going starting
with a one-day workshop on July 24
during the AAMP annual convention in
Mobile, Alabama. There are also other
collaborative projects in the works for
the two organizations.
"There is a good possibility that
AAMP members will travel back to Germany to do some larger hands-on workshops for DFV on beef jerky and snack
stick production as well as others,"
Young said. "We are also working on a
student exchange program for young
butchers or students to do internships in
each other's countries."

More than 30 AAMP member companies came to IFFA to accept awards in the Quality Competition for Sausage and Ham.

MEAT+ POULTRY 2019 IFFA RECAP

Meat+Poultry - July 2019

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