This year’s World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest, sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association (WDPA), received a record 820 entries from dairy processors throughout North America.
Winners in three categories were announced: Sartori Company of Plymouth, Wisconsin, was selected as the Cheese and Butter Grand Champion; Upstate Niagara Co-op of Buffalo, New York, was selected as the Grade A Grand Champion; and Gifford’s Dairy of Skowhegan, Maine, was the Ice Cream Grand Champion.
“It is amazing how dairy manufacturers have embraced this contest,” says WDPA executive director Brad Legreid. “Due to the tremendous support from dairy companies throughout North America, the (contest) has averaged a 15 percent annual rate of growth over its first 11 years. This is unprecedented growth for a dairy product contest.”
Judging was held Aug. 13-14 at the Madison Area Technical College Culinary School, and Aug. 15 at University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Babcock Hall.
On Oct. 1, the contest’s auction will be held at World Dairy Expo in Madison, at which time all category first-place winners will be auctioned off.A portion of the proceeds will be used to fund various scholarships, awarded annually to deserving students pursuing careers in the dairy industry.
The auction will begin at 5 p.m. and will feature as the auctioneer Doug Wilson of Cooperative Resources International. For more information, call (608) 836-3336. PD
—From WDPA news release
