Reprinted with Premission from the Bloomfield Free Press

BLOOMFIELD - It's been said that Brian and Mary Kollmeyer bring home the bacon . and the ham, and the steaks and the summer sausage. But at the recent Indiana Meat Packers and Processors Association's annual convention, the Kollmeyers - and their Bloomfield Processing locker plant - brought home a major honor. The couple's Canadian Bacon - seasoned and smoked to perfection - won honors as the state's top Canadian Bacon. Canadian Bacon is made using the loin portion of a hog, and is more tender that ham. The contest was held as part of the IMPPA's annual conference at West Lafayette, Ind. One thing that makes the win even more sweet for Brian and Mary is the fact that their business - which is just seven years old - was competing against processing plants which have been in operation and in the same family for numerous generations and many which are much larger. One thing that may have helped the Kollmeyers garner the award is the fact that they still make all of their smoked meats the old fashioned way - which makes them unique in Indiana. "A state inspector told us that we are the only ones in the state still operating the old wood smoker," Mary said. "You have a real fire going under the meat." Brian explained that at Bloomfield Processing, the room-size smoker burns hickory wood and the temperature inside is controlled by a series of dampers. "It can be really hard to control," he said. "I would love to have one of the modern smokers that are all computer-controlled . but they are $30,000." Winning the award this early in their meat processing career is also laudable for the Kollmeyers. While a lot of the processing plants have literally been in business for 90 or 100 years, the couple bought Bloomfield Processing seven years ago - with no experience. "He worked at GE in Bloomington and was getting ready to get laid off," Mary said. "When we bought this place, we knew nothing about it. It was a big jump." From knowing nothing about the business seven years ago to Brian's serving as president of the IMPPA this year is a jump, indeed. Along with winning this year's top spot, the Kollmeyers placed second in the summer sausage and bratwurst competitions in 2004. A full-service processing plant, Bloomfield Processing sells a full line of meat products and processes game meats during hunting season. The company is also experimenting with branching out into making its own luncheon meats in the near future. Just to make it official - Bloomfield Processing, Brian and Mary Kollmeyer and their agents and assigns have full permission and rights to republish any and all of the above news story and any and all art that accompanied it.