Paul, Judy and Adam Polashek from Polashek’s Locker Service, Inc. in Protivin attended the 72nd Annual Convention & Trade Show of the Iowa Meat Processors Association was held at the Gateway Hotel & Conference Center and the ISU Meat Laboratory in Ames on Feb. 14-17.  Processors from 48 plants and vendors in 41 booths were in attendance for the training sessions and the trade show. 
    The conference participants attended seminars on a variety of processing techniques used on beef, pork, fabrication of specialty cuts from the chuck, and sausage techniques at the ISU meat lab under the direction of meat extension specialist, Dr. Joe Cordray, and other staff members from the Iowa State University.
    Cordray was in charge of the Iowa Cured Meats competition and the “Best of the Midwest” with entries from Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri held on Saturday.  There were 400 entries of processed meats in twenty classes of the competition. The “Best of the Midwest” competition was based on four classes and all were entries were evaluated by judges from Iowa State University.
    Polashek’s Locker received the following awards: Reserve Champion Whole Muscle Jerky and Reserve Champion Cooked Summer Sausage. Polashek’s Locker is celebrating 25 years in the meat business in March of 2008.