FSD Quarterly | Q2 2024

OPERATIONS

GO BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MSU MEAT LAB

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY’S ON-CAMPUS MEAT PROCESSING FACILITY MAKES LOCAL MEAT WITHIN REACH FOR DINING HALLS, ATHLETIC EVENTS, CATERING AND COLLABORATIONS. BY TARA FITZPATRICK

W hen Assistant Manager Ryan Varner describes cattle as having “rear- wheel drive,” light bulbs blink on above visiting chefs’ heads: Those muscles do the most work, so those cuts of beef are bigger, heavier and tougher. Rear for locomotion, front for stabilization. The front has smaller pieces that cook up better. “You can be an amazing chef but not have any idea where stuff comes from,” says Jennifer Dominguez, manager at the Michigan State University (MSU)’s Meat Lab. CHEFS TOUR THE MSU MEAT LAB At FSD's 2024 Big Ten Chefs Immersion conference, chefs from universities across the country ended their immer- sion experience with a chilly-but-fas- cinating tour of host university MSU’s Meat Lab. Education is just part of the meat-re- lated work being done every day in the

The MSU meat lab crew shows how to cut meat.

organized through the American Meat Science Association. And the Meat Lab is well-known on campus for its collaborations with the MSU Dining, providing dining halls with beef and pork products (and a smaller amount of chicken), including burger patties, blended burgers, meaty snacks, charcuterie boards, “Sparty Franks” and brats for sporting events and specialty cuts for events in the Kel- logg’s State Room, a higher-end hotel restaurant and meeting spot on campus. CAMPUS COLLABORATIONS At a time when “locally sourced” is becoming more and more important to the sustainability movement, the Meat Lab really takes ownership of that advantage. “There is a considerable push to utilize a more local approach to sus- tainable operations,” Dominguez says. “The footprint for the meat products used in the dining halls and State Room are micro in compari- son to the past approach used. Addi- tionally, through the entire process, students benefit from the hands-on

cavernous, perpetually chilly build- ing, which includes a big cutting area where carcasses are broken down, two abbatoirs, curing and cooking areas, a smokehouse and classrooms, about 20,000 square feet in all. Several cours- es in meat science are offered through MSU’s departments of Animal Science and Food Science/Human Nutrition. Research into meat science is also con- ducted here, and the time-honored tradition of the meat judging program,

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The footprint for the meat products used in the dining halls and State Room are micro in comparison to the past approach used. Additionally, through the entire process, students benefit from the hands-on learning that goes into each section of the process."

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARA FITZPATRICK

FSD QUARTERLY

Q2 2024