International Federation of Competitive Eating
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The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. (IFOCE) organizes, supervises and regulates eating contests across the globe, acting as a central resource for the sport. Top events include the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the Wing Bowl, and the Krystal Square Off World Hamburger Eating Championship. The IFOCE was founded in 1997 by brothers George and Richard Shea.
The IFOCE counts thousands of gurgitators in its league, including top-ranked eaters such as Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, Joey Chestnut of California, and Sonya Thomas of Virginia. The IFOCE develops, promotes and runs more than 100 events in all variety of venues during its annual circuit.
The organization also produces television shows on competitive eating. In 2006, the IFOCE produced three hours of programming on ESPN, including a one-hour live show on the 2005 Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest and one-hour shows on the Johnsonville Brat contest and the Krystal Hamburger contest. The Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive eating, a three-hour elimination tournament was a 2005 IFOCE production. In addition, the IFOCE produced four 30-minute shows under the title of Tour de Gorge and six 30-minute shows titled Eats of Strength for INHD.
[edit] Worldwide branches
The IFOCE maintains principal offices in New York City and operates in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Thailand. The Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, the TV Food Network and the UK’s Channel Four have also aired one-hour documentaries on eating and the IFOCE and Fox Television aired a two-hour IFOCE championship.
The IFOCE maintains a ranking system for competitions it has sanctioned. IFOCE safety measures ensure that all sanctioned matches occur in a controlled environment under the supervision of a licensed emergency medical technician and that only individuals over the age of 18 compete.
[edit] Coveted Mustard Yellow Belt
The famed "Coveted Mustard Yellow Belt," a cultural icon of sorts, was discovered by IFOCE member Mike DeVito in 1993 after being lost for more than two decades in Japan. Devito received the belt after winning an eating match against Orio Ito of Japan. The belt was restored by the Shea brothers, and is now the crown jewel of the competitive eating world. It was previously held by Takeru Kobayashi from 2001 to 2007 but is now currently held by Joey Chestnut.
There is some criticism of the contest because not all competitive eaters are able to qualify/compete.
