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 eaters in its league, including the top-ranked eaters in the United States and internationally, including Takeru Kobayashi of Japan 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 2005, the IFOCE produced four hours of programming on ESPN, including a one-hour live show on the 2005 Nathan’s Famous hot dog eating contest and The Alka-Seltzer US Open of Competitive eating, a three-hour elimination tournament. In addition, the IFOCE produced four 30-minute shows under the title of Tour de Gorge for the high-definition network, INHD.
The IFOCE maintains principal offices in New York City and operates in the United States, Japan, England, 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 in 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.
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.
