Three salted butters took the top three places in Class 201 at the 2026 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest, and two of them are products many shoppers can buy at regular grocery stores. The official winners list confirms the ranking, while Food & Wine identified the retail products as Keller’s Creamery Salted Butter, Winn-Dixie’s Know & Love Salted Butter, and High Desert Milk Salted Sweet Cream Butter.
Which butters placed first, second, and third
The Wisconsin Dairy Products Association published the 2026 winners list for the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest on August 26, 2026. In Class 201, Salted Butter, first place went to Dairy Farmers of America in Winnsboro, Texas, second place went to The Winn-Dixie Company in Jacksonville, Florida, and third place went to High Desert Milk in Burley, Idaho.
The official class list names the entries as Salted 80% Butter from Dairy Farmers of America, Salted Butter from The Winn-Dixie Company, and Salted Sweet Cream Butter from High Desert Milk. Food & Wine matched those contest entries to the retail products shoppers are more likely to recognize on store shelves: Keller’s Creamery Salted Butter, Know & Love Salted Butter, and High Desert Milk Salted Sweet Cream Butter.
That retail naming matters because contest sheets often use product descriptions rather than package branding. For readers trying to spot the winners in a dairy case, the brand names are the useful part. In this case, the first place butter is tied to Keller’s Creamery, the second place butter to Winn-Dixie’s Know & Love label, and the third place butter to High Desert Milk’s own butter line.
What the contest is, and why these results stand out
The World Dairy Expo says the Championship Dairy Product Contest is sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association and covers butter, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, fluid milk, whipping cream, sour cream, cottage cheese, whey, and other dairy categories. The organization says the contest gives processors a chance to showcase products in a national competition.
Food & Wine reported that the contest judges dairy products on flavor, texture, and aroma. That helps explain why the salted butter class draws attention beyond dairy industry circles. Butter is a basic kitchen staple, so an award in that category has direct meaning for home cooks comparing everyday options for baking, sautéing, and table use.
The 2026 results also show a mix of company types. Dairy Farmers of America is a large farmer owned cooperative, Winn-Dixie’s winning butter comes from a private label grocery brand, and High Desert Milk is a cooperative based in Idaho. For shoppers, that means the top three were not all niche premium butters, and at least two are tied to familiar grocery retail channels.
Where shoppers may find them, and what prices were reported
Food & Wine reported Keller’s Creamery Salted Butter at $4.54 per pound and said it is sold throughout the Philadelphia region at retailers including ShopRite, The GIANT Company, ACME, Redner’s, Boyer’s, Weis, Karns, and Safeway stores in the Maryland area. The same report listed Know & Love Salted Butter at $4.99 per pound at Winn-Dixie stores.
For High Desert Milk, Food & Wine reported an approximate price of $3.60 per pound for its Salted Sweet Cream Butter. High Desert Milk’s own website also shows that select butter products are available through its online shop, though the site does not list the contest winning butter price in the source material reviewed.
Prices and availability deserve a little caution. The amounts above were reported by Food & Wine and were presented as retail prices tied to those products, not as guaranteed current pricing in every store. Even so, the class results offer a practical shopping takeaway: three recognized salted butters, each tied to a specific brand name, all landed in a price range that keeps them within reach for everyday cooking.