By Taylor J. Hale
Staff Writer

CUSTER – A local meat maker was the recipient of five titles and the “Gold Cup of Honour” at the German Butchers’ Association IFFA ceremony in Germany on May 7.

People’s Meat Market, Custer, brought home the international gold medals for their beef jerky, bacon, Jalapeno and Cheese beef sticks, Jalapeno and Cheese summer sausage and Old World summer sausage. The Cup of Honour is given to those with five or more gold medals in the competition.

Outside of People’s Meat Market. (Taylor Hale Photo)

Although the award ceremony took place in Frankfurt, Germany, the judging took place in Madison on university grounds in January. Owner Lee Falkavage brought his samples to the state capital and waited for his results. He found out about the victories in February and headed to Europe two months later for the award ceremony.

“You have to go to Germany to get the award,” Falkavage explained.

According to Falkavage, this is the first year the German Butchers’ Association has evaluated American entries, and he is proud to have walked away with five different gold medals. The local meat maker noted that the IFFA competition judges products differently than traditional American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP) contests.

“The Germans do their judging different than they do here in the United States,” he said. “There are criteria that you have to meet, so you’re actually competing against yourself. Everybody starts out with 50 points, and they deduct points off.”

Falkavage and his family may be first generation meat processors, but with over 19-years of experience, and a growing list of awards, they’ve developed an impressive reputation in the area. “There’s pretty much nothing higher to achieve. If you can get international awards that says a lot about your product.”

People’s Meat Market is located at 6811 Burr Oak Rd., Custer. For more information visit https://peoplesmeats.com.

Contact Taylor J. Hale at [email protected] with Portage County news and information.