GENERAL INFORMATION FOR NICRA S:

National Ice Cream Retailers Association 743 Spirit 40 Park Drive, Suite 121, Chesterfield MO 63005 636 778 0297 Fax: 636 898 4326 Toll Free: 866-303-6960 info@nicra.org www.nicra.org GENERAL INFORMATION FOR NICRA S: ICE CREAM CLINIC PROCEDURES YOUR BEST NEW FLAVOR CONTEST FROM: The Ice Cream Clinic Committee Pete Freund - Chairman David Deadman President Elect Jay Rentschler Supplier Member Henry Gentry Board Member Jim Mitchell - Active Member George Lochhead Supplier Member Kelly Larson - Active Member Steve Christensen - Executive Director MISSION STATEMENT: The purpose of the Ice Cream Clinic conducted at NICRA s Annual Meeting is to assure a reliable, consistent and credible process of evaluation for its entries. NICRA s Clinics are based on an understanding that the members who attend the tasting sessions will participate in a safe and healthful atmosphere. NICRA is further mindful the judging of the entries has to meet specific stringent quality standards and encourages its members to accept good manufacturing procedures and act on the information provided by the clinic. In summary, the NICRA Ice Cream Clinic will provide a credible evaluation in a safe environment and disseminate information that can be used for member education and self improvement. In an effort to improve the reliability, consistency and credibility of the Ice Cream Clinic s results, the Ice Cream Clinic Committee has set up guidelines and testing procedures. You must be a member of NICRA in good standing in order to participate in the Ice Cream Clinic and Your Best New Flavor Contests will only be using the universities that are the top scoring schools in the Collegiate Contest conducted by the International Association of Food Industry Suppliers. The 2018 sensory judging for the vanilla and chocolate samples will be conducted under the direction of Dr. Tonya Schoenfuss, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, a trained and experienced dairy scientist. You may submit ice cream, frozen custard, gelato, soft serve, or frozen yogurt. However, the sensory testing and scoring for all samples will be judged using the standards for hard ice cream, since there are no standards for judging these other products. NICRA will provide the two half-gallon cartons for each flavor, the Federal Express Airbill and dry ice stickers for you to ship your Ice Cream Clinic samples of vanilla, chocolate,your Best New Flavor and your Non Dairy Best New Flavor. Refer to the entry forms for fees for each sample. Contest registration fees must be paid before cartons OVER

are shipped. The cartons will have a number on them to identify your sample. Do not use any other cartons. Your ice cream will be disqualified if you ship in cartons other than those provided. Please be sure to practice good manufacturing techniques when filling cartons. ALL sensory and bacteriology testing will be done at the University of Minnesota. All ice cream samples must be shipped in one shipment. These are the microbiology standards that ALL samples must meet to be included in any of the competitions: Standard Plate Count - Less than 50,000 bacteria per gram Coliform Count - Less than 10 coliform per gram for vanilla Coliform Count - Less than 20 coliform per gram for all other flavors If your samples test higher than these microbiology standards, there will be no further testing of the samples and you will receive a call from the NICRA office giving you the results of the tests. Your samples will not be allowed to be entered into the ice cream contests, the samples will not be available at the Annual Meeting for tasting. You will receive a formal letter from the NICRA office telling you that your samples were pulled from the competition because they exceeded the microbiology standards. You will not receive a refund of your entrance fee. And you will not be allowed to submit new samples because of time constraints. Participants must be registered and attend the Annual Meeting. You must be present at the banquet on Thursday evening to be eligible for certificate of recognition if your ice cream qualifies for a certificate. By entering the ice cream contests you agree to abide by the rules of the ice cream contests. Those not attend-ing the Annual Meeting may submit samples of vanilla and chocolate for analysis. A summary report will be available after the Annual Meeting. If you submit samples and do not attend the Annual Meeting and the banquet on Thursday evening, you will not receive a certificate of recognition or be included in press releases sent to the media. The flavor name as it appears on the entry form for the Ice Cream Clinic and Your Best New Flavor and Best New Flavor Non Dairy will be the name that appears on the certificate of recognition, if your ice cream qualifies for a certificate. Following are the entry forms for the Ice Cream Clinic and Your Best New Flavor Contests. If your samples are shipped on any other day, except on the day specified on the entrance form, we cannot guarantee that someone will be available to receive them. So please make sure you ship on the correct day ONLY. TWO OTHER AWARDS: The Perfect Score award will be given to those that receive a perfect judging score as determined by the University performing the evaluations. A pin stating, My Ice Cream is Perfect with the NICRA logo will be presented to the winning companies. A gold ribbon saying Perfect Score will be attached to the name tags of those who will receive this award at the convention. Currently a perfect score would mean receiving 35 out of 35 possible points for vanilla, chocolate or dark chocolate. The Grand Master Ice Cream Maker Award started at the 2012 convention. In order to qualify for this prestigious award, a company must win blue ribbons at three different conventions within a five year period, starting in 2012. A plaque commemorating this award, with the company name, will be presented at the appropriate convention and a ribbon Grand Master will be attached to their convention name tags.

2018 ICE CREAM CONTESTS ENTRY FORM How to Enter ALL Ice Cream Contests: You must be a member of the Association in good standing to participate in the NICRA s Ice Cream Contests. Submit two half gallons, in the containers provided by NICRA, of any ice cream, frozen yogurt, gelato, frozen custard or softserve products. ALL samples will be judged using standards for hard ice cream. Enter as many samples as desired. The fee is $79 for each ice cream clinic sample submitted for the cost of laboratory analyses and sensory testing; and $35 for each Your Best New Flavor for the cost of laboratory analyses. Complete Annual Meeting Registration Procedures. Participants must register and attend the Annual Meeting and be present at the banquet on Thursday evening to be eligible for certificate of recognition. By entering the ice cream contests,you agree to abide by the rules of the contests. Send Entry Form and payment to NICRA office, 743 Spirit 40 Park Dr, Suite 121, Chesterfield MO 63006 or fax it to 636 898 4326 with your VISA or Master-card number. Entry Form and payment must be in the NICRA office on or before Friday, September 21, 2018. Ship samples on Wednesday, October 10, 2018. ONLY to University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (two half gallons for each flavor). DO NOT SHIP SAMPLES ANY OTHER DAYS, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE THE FEDERAL EXPRESS DISCOUNT. Please see additional information on the General Information Sheet included. How to Package Samples: NICRA will provide plain paper half-gallon containers with a number on it to identify your samples. Do not use any other type of container for your ice cream products or your samples will be disqualified. Cartons will not be shipped to you until entry fee is paid. NICRA will also provide Federal Express Airbills and Dry Ice Stickers. Must be regular run product. Must be drawn consecutively from the freezer in two (2) half-gallon carton(s) for each sample entered. Flavor name and type of product will be clearly and legibly marked in indelible ink on the side of the containers when you receive them. ICE CREAM CLINIC This year we will analyze vanilla and chocolate. Standard Plate Count and Coliform tests will be conducted by University of Minnesota personnel. Your product must meet microbiology standards. Sensory tests will also be conducted and scored. The fee is $79 for each ice cream clinic sample submitted for the cost of laboratory analyses and sensory testing. Those not attending the Annual Meeting may submit samples of vanilla and chocolate for analysis. A summary report will be available after the Annual Meeting. If you submit samples and do not attend the Annual Meeting and the banquet on Thursday evening, you will not receive a certificate of recognition or be included in press releases sent to the media. A copy of the Score Card is included with this mailing so that you will know how your ice cream is scored. YOUR BEST NEW FLAVOR The fee is $39 for each Your Best New Flavor for the cost of laboratory analyses. How the Winning Flavors Will Be Selected: Standard Plate Count and Coliform tests will be conducted by University of Minnesota personnel. Your product must meet microbiology standards. The winning flavors in the category are selected via secret ballot by your peers during a tasting party during the Annual Meeting. The winners will be recognized at the Awards Banquet on Thursday evening during the Annual Meeting. The winning flavors will be selected for originality, quality, flavor and marketability. Certificates will be given for first, second and third place and an honorable mention for fourth, fifth and sixth place. All samples will be shipped to Dr. Tonya Schoenfuss at the University of Minnesota, Dept. of Food Science & Nutrition.

Registration Form for ALL Ice Cream Contests Company Name: Manufacturer s Name: Address: City, State, Zip Phone Number: Fax Number: E-Mail Address: Person Attending Convention: Person Shipping Samples(s): Samples Shipped From: Address City, State, Zip ICE CREAM CLINIC YOUR BEST NEW FLAVOR CONTEST

YOUR BEST NEW FLAVOR CONTEST - NON DAIRY OVER for payment information. PAYMENT Ice Cream Clinic Samples number of samples submitted at $79 each: Total $ Your Best New Flavor Samples number of samples submitted at $39 each: Total $ Enclosed is our check for $ Credit Card Payment: Visa Master Card Card # Exp. Date Entry Form and payment must be in the NICRA Office, 743 Spirit 40 Park Dr, Ste 121, Chesterfield MO 63005, on or before Friday, September 21, 2018. All samples must ship on Wednesday, October 10 2018 and arrive at University of Minnesota Thursday, September 11, 2018.