The American Association of Meat Processors is announcing the winners of the 2025 DFV-AAMP Quality Competition for Sausage and Ham. The competition, held in partnership with the German Butchers Association (Deutscher Fleischer-Verband or DFV), featured more than 630 entries submitted by AAMP operator members. Den’s Country Meats of Table Rock, Neb., won first place in both the sausage and ham categories, with 35 gold medals in the sausage category and 27 in the ham category. The company also was named the overall winner of the competition for its 62 total gold medals. Second place in each category went to Tulare Meat Locker & Sausage Co. LLC of Tulare, Calif., which won 28 gold medals in the sausage category and 19 in the ham category.

Judging took place Jan. 27-30 at Iowa State University. Evaluations were done in Kildee Hall, home of the ISU Meat Laboratory. Processors who traveled to ISU, as well as students and faculty passing through the hall, stayed to watch the process and sample some of the products. Unlike American cured meat competitions, products are not judged against the other entries. Each product starts with 50 points and is evaluated on exterior factors, consistency, smell and taste. Each defect deducts points. After the evaluation, that product will receive a gold, silver or bronze medal – or no medal at all – based on the points. A product that was judged to have no defects and retains its 50 points is given a gold medal. Participants with at least five gold medals will also be awarded a Cup of Honour.

“Judges from the DFV traveled thousands of miles to evaluate our members’ products, and the AAMP operators delivered with outstanding quality and taste,” said Chris Young, executive director of AAMP. “A total of 610 medals were awarded at the Quality Competition. Of those, 446 products won gold medals. Congratulations to our participants for an outstanding showing, particularly to Dennis Schaardt of Den’s Country Meats, Danny Mendes of Tulare Locker & Sausage Company, and their teams.”

Representatives from the DFV will award certificates, medals and trophies at an awards ceremony during the IFFA show on May 6, 2025, in Frankfurt, Germany. AAMP will also have a second ceremony during its convention in Kansas City, Mo., July 25-27, 2025, for those award winners who were unable to make the trip to Germany.

The list of gold medal winners for the participating companies:

• Den's Country Meats, Table Rock, Neb.: 62
• Tulare Meat Locker & Sausage Co. LLC, Tulare, Calif.: 48
• Bavaria Sausage, Fitchburg, Wisc.: 30
• Schaller & Weber, New York, N.Y.: 30
• Eureka Sausage Inc., North Hollywood, Calif.: 30
• West Bend Sausage Plus, West Bend, Wisc.: 22
• Louie's Finer Meats Inc., Cumberland, Wisc.: 20
• Lake Geneva Country Meats, Lake Geneva, Wisc.: 16
• West Texas A&M University, Canyon, Texas: 16
• Tommy G’s Meat and Sausage Inc., Fairbanks, Ark.: 13
• Clarks Custom Meat Co., Saint Joseph, Mo.: 13
• Woods Smoked Meats, Bowling Green, Mo.: 12
• RJ’s Meats, Hudson, Wisc.: 11
• Three Rivers Meat Co., Smithville, Okla.: 11
• Country Meat Shop, Moberly, Mo.: 10
• Schmidt’s Meat Market, Nicollet, Minn.: 9
• Tiefenthaler Quality Meats, Holstein, Iowa: 9
• Conger Meat Market, Conger, Minn.: 8
• Paradise Meats, Trimble, Mo.: 8
• Edgewood Locker, Edgewood, Iowa: 7
• Ralph’s Packing Co., Perkins, Okla.: 7
• Wisconsin River Meats, Manstan, Wisc.: 7
• Grand Champion Meats, Foley, Minn.: 6
• Salamico, Montreal, Quebec, Canada: 6
• Ranch House Sausage Co., Billings, Mont.: 6
• Western Smokehouse Partners, Galesburg, Ill.: 6
• Eickman’s Processing Co. Inc., Seward, Ill.: 5
• People’s Meat Market, Stevens Point, Wisc.: 5
• Bob’s Processing Inc., South Haven, Mich.: 4
• Dittmer’s Gourmet Meats & Wurst-Haus, Los Altos, Calif.: 3
• La Quercia Cured Meats/Driftless Meats LLC, Norwalk, Iowa: 1

Every three years, the German Butchers’ Association holds a competition in Frankfurt, Germany, as part of the IFFA, a trade fair for meat processing. Due to the difficulties in bringing cured meat items from the United States to Germany, American processors had been unable to participate in the event. To aid its members in participating, AAMP formed a partnership with the DFV in 2016 to host a satellite competition in the US. Every three years, the DFV sends its judges to the US to evaluate products. The results from this competition will be admitted to the official results of the IFFA show in Frankfurt. Both the conduct of the competition, as well as the certificates and medals, are identical to those held during the IFFA.

Source: American Association of Meat Processors