Victor Victorious

Dairy Field, Oct 2004

World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest announces Grand Champion.

Blaser's Premium Cheeses' Mild Wisconsin Brick was selected as the Grand Champion of the World Dairy Expo (WDE) Championship Dairy Product Contest. This competition, sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association (WDPA), received cheese, butter, fluid milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream and frozen yogurt entries from throughout the United States, with an equal number of entries coming from Wisconsin plants and plants from other states.

"We are extremely happy with the positive response we received from dairy manufacturers throughout the United States," says Brad Legreid, WDPA executive director. "Considering it's only the second year for this contest, the quantity and quality of entries we received reflected a high level of interest in this new contest."

The organization says the WDE Championship Dairy Product Contest was designed to offer a number of positive benefits. The contest is the only national judging competition of its kind in the United States to include a comprehensive variety of dairy products. This inclusive nature allows dairy manufacturers the unique opportunity to compete in a prestigious, all-dairy national contest.

Entries were submitted by companies, not individuals, allowing all company employees the opportunity to support and celebrate their entry's success.

WDPA held the judging on September 8 and 9 at the Madison Area Technical College (MATC) Culinary School and September 10 at UW-Madison's Babcock Hall. These locations proved to be very successful venues for the contest judging. "MATC and UW were very supportive of this contest," says Legreid. "By having the judging at the MATC Culinary School, over 70 chef-trainees were afforded the unique opportunity to closely observe and interact with the contest judges throughout the day."

On September 28, the contest's auction was held at World Dairy Expo in Madison. All category first-place winners were auctioned off following WDPA's annual Cheese & Butter Evaluation Clinic.

A portion of the proceeds from the contest auction were donated directly to the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin's (PDPW) Education Foundation. This donation supports PDPW in its efforts to assist current and beginning producers achieve success in dairy farming.

For a complete list of contest winners, visit www.wdpa.net.