Three local lockers win big

HOWARD COUNTY- Elma Locker & Grocery, Polashek’s Locker in Protivin and County Line Locker in Riceville all came home with awards for their cured meat entries at the Iowa Meat Processors 84th Convention and Trade Show.

The three local businesses and employees were part of 275 staff representing 42 processing plants and 40 supplier members, who attended the event in Ames on Feb. 13-16.

Twenty-eight of those processing plants submitted 290 meat entries. 

Awards given to local businesses included:

Elma Locker & Grocery 

~ Grand Champion Center Cut Smoked Pork Loin

~ Champion Cooked Ring Bologna

~ Champion Large Diameter Luncheon Meat

 

Polashek’s Locker

~ Reserve Grand Champion Small Diameter Smoked Cooked Sausage

~ Champion Summer Sausage - Cooked

Adam Polashek noted, “We take a great deal of pride in what we do day in and day out, and to win an award at the Iowa Meat Convention speaks volumes on how much our employees take pride in their work.

“The two products that we won with, Summer Sausage and Smokies, are two of our most popular products. You can find our products at our shop or at numerous locations including Cresco Fareway.”

 

County Line Locker

~ Grand Champion Meat Snack Sticks

~ Reserve Grand Champion Liver Sausage

~ Champion Jerky - Reconstructed

Amanda Angell of County Line Locker said of the convention, “It’s always fun going down and catching up with everyone. It really takes a team to do it – we always learn something new.”

There are a total of 20 categories meat processors can enter in the contest. Besides the local winning classifications, other contests include Ham — Bone-In; Specialty Hams — Semi-Boneless, Boneless, Section and Formed; Bacon; Canadian Bacon; Cottage Bacon; Cured & Smoked Beef; Jerky — Whole Muscle; Smoked Turkey; Frankfurters/ Wieners; Flavored Snack Sticks; Innovative Beef Product; and Innovative Pork Product.

The products were judged by teams of 30 professionals from Iowa State University and several other universities, as well as some industry experts. Products are scored on external and internal appearance, flavor, aroma and workmanship.