Geiss Meat Service of Merrill placed in the top five overall at the 75th annual Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors Meat Product Show held in Madison April 3-6.
Geiss Meat Service, owned by Andrew Geiss, won 1st Grand Champion awards for its ring bologna (course ground) and jalapeno cheese summer sausage. Geiss also took 2nd Reserve Grand Champion in the traditional boneless ham and restructured jerky classes; 3rd Champion in the smoked turkey category; 4th Reserve Champion for their traditional cooked brat and chili cheese wiener; and 5th Honorable Mention for Polish (fresh dinner sausage) and Old World Summer Sausage.
The Wisconsin Meat Product Competition is the largest of its kind in the United States. A total of 54 meat processing plants and meat markets from throughout the state this year entered 1,084 individual products in 36 product categories. Over 40 judges including food scientists, out-of-state meat processors and other food industry professionals were required to effectively evaluate the many products during the evaluation session. Individual products are scored for external appearance and eye appeal, internal appearance, aroma and taste, using a scale of 1,000 points.