At the Wisconsin Specialty Meat Championships and the Wisconsin State Fair Meat Products Contest, judges evaluate everything from traditional snack sticks to old-world, artisanal sausage.
Among those tasked with sorting the “best of the best” is Heather Hunt, outreach program manager with the UW-Madison Meat Science & Animal Biologics Discovery Program.
The contest is a marathon of sensory evaluation, featuring a staggering diversity of products. Entries range from standard snack sticks to complex, dry-cured meats that have been hanging in fermentation chambers for months. For Hunt, the role is about more than just checking boxes on a scorecard. It’s about honoring the craftsmanship of the local industry.
“We’re very fortunate in Wisconsin to have a wide variety of interests in processed meats and appreciating the art of those traditional products,” she tells Mid-West Farm Report, emphasizing the importance of keeping old-world artisanal techniques alive.
While the job requires a professional eye for defects, it also requires a sturdy appetite. Hunt avoids the common spit cup used by some colleagues, preferring to fully engage with the product as a buyer would.
“I think that for me personally, fully eating it gives me that experience that a processor’s consumer would have,” she says. “That way I can go into that same mindset.”
The results of the contest will be used to help local businesses improve their crafts, strengthening a community that Hunt describes as a “second family.”
See the Wisconsin State Fair Meat Products Contest results that included about 100 entries: https://www.wistatefair.com/pdfs/competitions/judging_results/meat_products.pdf
Learn more about the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors and its Wisconsin Specialty Meat Championships, which boasted about 900 entries this year: https://wi-amp.com/convention/
