Umpqua Dairy wins fifth straight Weber Award for quality excellence

Umpqua Dairy Products Company of Roseburg, Oregon, earned the Irving B. Weber Award for Total Quality Excellence for the fifth year in a row at the 2026 QCS Annual Conference in Plano, Texas. The honor is the top recognition in QCS Purchasing Cooperative’s Dairy Quality Excellence Program and underscores the dairy’s long-running record in product quality and food safety.

Why it matters: - Umpqua Dairy’s fifth consecutive Weber Award puts the Roseburg, Oregon, company among the most consistently recognized plants in QCS’s quality program. - The award signals sustained performance in product quality, food safety and operational excellence, not a one-time win. - The recognition matters for customers and retail partners that depend on consistent dairy quality across categories.

What happened: - Umpqua Dairy Products Company earned the Irving B. Weber Award for Total Quality Excellence in 2026. - QCS Purchasing Cooperative announced the honor during the Celebration Gala at the 2026 QCS Annual Conference in Plano, Texas. - The 2026 win is Umpqua Dairy’s fifth straight Weber Award and 12th overall. - Umpqua Dairy has also been named a Weber Award finalist 25 times. - Umpqua Dairy was a 2026 Dairy Quality Excellence Award winner and a Weber Award finalist in two categories: Cultured Products and Ice Cream.

The details: - The Irving B. Weber Award is the highest honor in QCS Purchasing Cooperative’s Dairy Quality Excellence Program. - The QCS program dates to 1944 and benchmarks dairy plants on product quality, food safety and operational performance. - The program recognizes companies that consistently demonstrate excellence in product quality across dairy categories. - QCS President and CEO Ken Klug said winning once is a significant achievement and that earning the award five years in a row shows a culture of quality embedded throughout Umpqua Dairy. - Klug also said Umpqua Dairy’s record reflects the consistency required to deliver quality every day. - The award is named for Irving B. Weber, whose vision helped shape the program for more than 80 years.

Between the lines: - Umpqua Dairy’s repeated wins suggest the company has built quality control into routine operations rather than treating excellence as an annual target. - The dual finalist recognition in Cultured Products and Ice Cream points to broad performance across product lines, not strength in just one category. - The long history of the QCS program gives the award extra weight because the honor is measured against a durable industry benchmark.

What's next: - QCS will continue using the Dairy Quality Excellence Program to evaluate plants on quality, safety and operations. - Umpqua Dairy will enter the next cycle with a track record that raises expectations for another strong showing. - QCS Purchasing Cooperative will keep convening food and beverage leaders at its annual conference for education, collaboration and supplier connections.

The bottom line: - Umpqua Dairy’s fifth straight Weber Award reinforces its status as a repeat standard-bearer for dairy quality within the QCS network. - For the company, the win is less about a single trophy and more about proving sustained execution year after year.

More information: qcspurchasing.com