Q: How did you become involved in the meat science department? Did you have any connections or passions about the industry before college?
A: I came to Mizzou as an undergraduate student in Animal Sciences, and I set out to pursue Beef Production work. I met with Dr. Bryon Wiegand to follow up on that interest, but I quickly became interested in meat science. This interest stemmed from my involvement in meat science research and my participation in the Mizzou Meat Judging team.
Once I realized I enjoyed meat science and learned a great deal from it, I stayed at Mizzou to pursue a master’s degree in animal sciences with an emphasis in meat science under the guidance of Dr. Wiegand. While earning my master’s, I coached the meat judging team and had success. After earning my master’s, I was once again advised by Dr. Wiegand and stayed to earn my PhD in animal sciences, again with an emphasis in meat science from Mizzou. I continued coaching the team, started teaching classes, took on research projects and did extension work. Once I completed my PhD, Dr. Wiegand informed me of plans to build a new meat lab. I decided to stay at Mizzou due to the plan of a new meat lab, as well as Dr. Wiegand asking me to stay at Mizzou in a faculty position.
I have since continued to coach the Mizzou Meat Judging team, teach meat science classes, and conduct extension work. I have been honored to be able to have input in the new meat facility project and watch it come to life. Most people do not have the opportunity to be a part of the planning stages of something as big as this and eventually help manage said facility. I am also very excited to continue my teaching. I want this to be a bridge for more students to become involved and understand meat science.
Q: If someone is interested in pursuing a career in meat science, which path do you recommend they take?
A: Meat science is a very big industry; it ranges from live animals all the way to a smoked or cured product. In undergrad at MU, I recommend taking the Principles of Meat Science (AN_SCI 3214) course and getting a feel for it. There are many components in different stages of meat processing. In the Principles of Meat Science course, you get a glimpse of the whole industry. Students learn about harvesting, processing, cutting and even making smoked products like bacon and sausage. This is great exposure to find what part of the process you like and what you would want to be involved in. As a department, we also have a lot of connections with great partners. These partners and companies often offer internships for students, so they get a real-world feel for the part of the industry they are interested in. In the Principles of Meat Science course, there is also exposure to the research side. Utilizing internship opportunities and class material will help them decide if they would want to pursue a master’s or PhD in meat sciences in the future. Overall, this course is a great starting point for students who are interested and just want to dip their toes into meat science to see if they enjoy it or not. We do offer other courses, such as Meat Evaluation (AN_SCI 3275) and Processing Muscle Foods (AN_SCI 4344). Meat Evaluation is a great class to learn about judging different cuts of meat, introductory to carcasses and teaches valuable communication skills.
Q: What are the most prominent improvements in the new facility compared to the current facility?
A: The most prominent improvement is that everything will be connected; the abattoir and processing rooms will be in one building. The size and capacity of the new facility are also big improvements. The capabilities in the current facility are not bad by any means, but in the new facility, there will be more room for research needs for others in animal sciences. This will also allow us to dramatically increase the number of livestock that are harvested for research, sales and hands-on experiences for students.
Q: What equipment are you most excited to receive for the new facility?
A: The piece of equipment I am most excited to receive is the two-truck pass-through smokehouse. This will allow us to have a separate RTE (Ready to Eat) area that decreases the worry of food safety concerns. The truck (rack) will be pushed into the smokehouse from the processing side and will come out on the RTE side to counteract cross-contamination. The pass-through oven is definitely a game-changer. Like I said, it will decrease food safety concerns and will allow us to increase the capabilities of the products we can offer in sales. We can begin to process luncheon meats, more sausages and a higher amount of other smoked meats than the Meat Market currently offers.
Q: How will the lab be managed?
A: The new facility will have an operations manager, and eventually, two other full-time employees. These positions will be a harvest to fabrication position, and the other role will be a sales/business position. The operations manager will oversee the day-to-day productivity, making schedules, hiring student workers and performing other tasks along those lines. The sales to fabrication employees will be present at all harvest days and help with fabrication. The sales/business employee will operate all the sales equipment, organize orders and operate the customer-facing business aspect. The two other full-time positions will not be filled right away. Our facility needs time to grow, and working out the details of the positions will also take time. Under those positions, we will have student workers, just like the current facility. Students will be supervised by these employees and will help with all aspects of the job.
Q: What classroom opportunities and hands-on experiences will be available to students in the new facility?
A: The new facility will have a classroom connected to the processing room. The classroom will have rails that connect to the processing room and coolers that will chill the carcasses. This will allow us to roll in a whole side of a beef carcass, which will be beneficial for learning how to grade and identify parts of beef. In the current facility, we have the same setup, but we are only able to roll in quarters of a beef carcass. The classroom will also be bigger and better equipped for all the various hands-on activities we will do in class. Students learn better by seeing and working on real-life examples. This classroom will also serve as a training room for new student workers.
Q: How do you envision the transition of student employees from the current facility to the new one?
A: It will be very interesting. I will be helping a little bit with that. In the new facility, we will need more student workers, so we are looking for students who want to learn about working in meat science and potentially take on a career in the industry. The skills they will learn are not like any other and are valuable. We want students who want to learn about meat science, come to work, and learn the trade. We also want them to be confident in their work and be independent thinkers. Overall, I think the transition will be very smooth, but the process will be up to the operations manager.
Q: How do you envision the lab in 5-10 years?
A: In 5-10 years, I fully expect us to have up to four full-time faculty meat scientists in addition to the operations manager and two full-time employees. We will also have many more student workers. We also expect to work alongside a lot of graduate and PhD students. Concerning the lab, I don’t think there will be much difference in productivity compared to now. We have a loyal customer base in sales and in custom processing, so if it does change, it should only increase. Sales-wise, we should do well. We will also be offering a wider variety of products. Public-facing, we also would like to increase our extension presence.
Q: Are you planning to partake in any community and campus events? Or any organization partnerships?
A: We will continue research in meat sciences, hopefully on a bigger scale, and we will also be able to take on other research projects in the Animal Science department. With the additional faculty, since they will all be research faculty, that opens a lot of doors, not just for us but also for other components of Animal Sciences and CAFNR. We plan on offering open-to-the-public courses. Participants would get a glimpse into what goes into making the food they buy and how the meat lab is set up and run. At the end of the day, they will have learned something new about food processing and will be able to take home what they made. The department has also thought about partaking in profit shares with different clubs. This would include the club members helping in sales at a home football game on Saturday, so Mizzou fans who tailgate can come in and buy their last-minute necessities. We will also continue our MO Beef for MO Kids partnership and possibly partner with other companies to make snack sticks for backpack programs. These ideas are great, and we would love to do them all, but time will tell what we can take on at what time after adjusting to the new facility.
This story was written by a student enrolled in Sci Ag Comm 2150, which gives students the opportunity to explore public relations and journalistic writing with real-world experience in CAFNR.