The IAFIS Annual Conference provides top-notch business education sessions to keep food industry suppliers on the leading edge of the industry. Annual Conference features a number of networking opportunities and leisure activities so that attendees can connect with colleagues in a relaxing setting. IAFIS Board of Directors elections are conducted at the Annual Conference, along with other Association business.
The 81st Annual Collegiate Dairy Judging Evaluation Contest, dedicated in memory of long time contest friend and former competitor George Wiegold, really sizzled in Valley of the Sun in 2002. From an intense competition to a rockin’ good time in downtown Phoenix, host Shamrock Foods Company set the standard for a great competition. Click here to see the 2002 Collegiate Contest results.
After a brief coaches meeting facilitated by lead coach Valente Alverez, contest officials, coaches and students piled onto buses, making their way to the Shamrock Foods Dairy Plant for a tour of the Tournament Host’s facilities. Vice President Jeff Patterson and Contest Judge/Shamrock Employee Troy Hancock greeted the group with enthusiasm and a short list of instructions. Sporting stylish hairnets and earplugs, Shamrock employee volunteers led tour groups through the plant. Following the tour, IAFIS’ President Charlie Bray noted that he had seen numerous member company products in use on Shamrock’s Plant floor—a definite plus! For the finale, Shamrock provided tasty milk samples in a virtual cornucopia of flavors for the bus ride back to the hotel; a great jumpstart for the evening’s many strategy sessions.
As the sun rose over Squaw Peak the next morning, the teams and officials were back on the buses and headed to Shamrocks Corporate Headquarters to begin the contest. While the judges made final preparations, coaches milled about the space, checking out the lay of the land before departing for their own dairy tasting clinic. Samples from the six categories—butter, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, vanilla ice-cream, milk, and strawberry yogurt—had been flown in previously, judged, and were now placed on 6 long tables on the "judging floor". USDA’s Charlsia Fortner, the Contest Superintendent, greeted the competitors in the lobby with a cheerful welcome and a final rundown of the rules. The students were broken into their official groups for the day and IAFIS Contest Committee Chair Dean Girton led the students to the floor. The Judging Contest had begun!
At each station, student judges had 25 minutes to stair, sniff, taste, spit, and overall evaluate each product. Strategies for each emerged throughout the hushed room. Spitting itself was a fine art as some swooshed loudly and expectorated in great arcs into the bag lined garbage cans. Others simply leaned over and let the dairy products drop, while still others spit into cups with napkins to cover the contents. Proctors were scattered throughout the room to escort student judges to the restrooms, ensuring competitors didn’t communicate during the contest…this was one serious competition!
Basing their evaluations on a series of criteria, each "judge’s" goal was to come as close to the industry professionals’ evaluations as possible. Students competed for first through third in each dairy category, overall individual standing, and team standing. The atmosphere was thicker than the 40-pound blocks of cheddar they sampled. The students’ never missed a beat, even as a camera crew crept through the space, taping the competition for the local nightly news. Plus, two gracious alternates and a lucky judge created a mock contest scenario behind Awards Ceremony featured speaker Wendy Offenberger for additional news footage!
In yet another corner of the competition world, Jennifer Fieber’s team of contest scorers tabulated the results as each round completed. Next door, cottage cheese and yogurt industry pro’s reviewed judging processes with the coaches. With more sniffing and spitting, folks barely noticed the approaching storm outside. Soon, however, a typical desert storm had blown through, flooding the Shamrock parking lot in moments, leaving a trail of hail, and providing many ooh’s, ahs, and camera flashes from the few onlookers unused to the desert’s version of a rainstorm. Inside, the competition continued unhindered, wrapping-up around 1:15 when Bob Elliott, assistant contest superintendent and timekeeper, announced the final time.
Exhausted, the students, coaches, and officials piled onto the buses and raced back to the Hotel for a little relaxation. At 7:00 sharp, the group headed to Alice Cooperstown for an evening of mixing and mingling over a little yummy BBQ. With four Jumbo screens featuring the World Series Game 6, Coyotes Hockey game, and two football games, the crowd at Cooperstown cheered their favorite teams while chatting about their competition.
Before the night was over, the Virginia Tech team had located IAFIS Foundation President and VT alum asking the now infamous question, "Are you Charlie Bray?" Joined by IAFIS Senior Vice President Steve Perry and Foundation Board President Steve Lefevre, students and coaches expressed their appreciation for a fabulous contest. Little did they know that Charlie Bray already knew the results of the day’s activities, masking this secret insight with a mighty poker face! As the last bus of the evening rolled down I-17, a rousing cheer could be heard from inside as the passengers passed the Shamrock Dairy Foods sign…a fine end to a great day.
The Awards breakfast kicked off at 7:30 am the following morning with a greeting from Charlie Bray and big thank you to Troy Hancock and Shamrock Foods for being the perfect host. As teams finished their French toast, Shamrock’s Director of Research and Development Wendy Offenberger inspired the troops, outlining her career track, starting with her own 1st place in Milk 15 years prior. She expressed that her involvement in the contest not only helped her land her first internship, but definitely jumpstarted her food tasting career.
Charlie Bray then launched into the big news of the day—announcing the contest winners. First, Joe Larson presented the Merit Award in his name to BYU’s Susan Anderson. Then, Charlie Bray announced as Shamrock’s dynamic duo of Jeff Patterson and Wendy Offenberger presented the individual and team category awards. Dean Girton and Steve Lefevre presented the sweepstakes awards for All Products as well as the specialty awards for the Coach of the Year, followed by Arthur Nesbitt’s presentation of the Dairy Shrine Lifetime Memberships to the top five undergraduate All Products winners. A complete list of winners can be seen at
With that, the contest weekend was over for yet another year. Special thanks to everyone who participated, donated, judged, or simply wished well. All the competitors were winners and will be great additions to the food industry!