Cured meat competitions occur in regions, states, nationwide and internationally. Many competitions are seeing entries rise. But why would a processor want to go to the trouble of entering a product he or she believes is perfect in a competition? Well for starters, a processor could understand their product better and learn ways to potentially improve it.
Jeff Sindelar, extension meat specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a technical advisor for the American Cured Meat Championships (ACMC), believes the primary reason to enter competitions is to have a product critically evaluated by a judge.