MeatsPad

This week we sit down with Dr. Joe Regenstein to discuss about religious slaughter. His broad experience and extensive work in the kosher and halal food categories will help us to address questions from beef producers who want to learn more about this topic. Meat our guest : His B.A. and M.S. are from Cornell and his Ph. D. in Biophysics is from Brandeis University. Dr. Regenstein is a Professor E...

This week on the MeatsPad, we feature Dr. Daniel and Diana Clark from the Certified Angus Beef®brand. Today we dive into the specifications of the CAB program and to discuss about the uniqueness of CAB and what makes it a very successful brand. Daniel and Diana Clark engage and teach partners about beef quality and meat science at the brand’s Culinary Center and meat labs across the country. The t...

We are very pleased to receive Karsten Schellhas on MeatsPad today! He is a 4thGeneration German Master Butcher, who worked in many countries in Europe, Canada and the USA.  He has extensive experience in the meat but also in the alternative protein industry. Karsten has helped companies of all sizes – from small to large to achieve their goals. Using process technology and innovation is impo...

This week we feature Diana Huerta who is an Applications Engineering Manager from Sealed Air’s Shrink Bags Product Line. Besides all her knowledge and experience in food packaging and polymers, she is a meat scientist and works with meat processors to optimize the shelf-life of fresh meat on a daily basis. We are entering a new era in meat packaging and Diana points out how the meat industry is co...

Let’s talk about Salt! This week we sat down with Dr. Rodrigo Tarté who is an Assistant Professor and Meat Scientist in the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University. He has many years of experience in academia and industry and discusses the importance of salt in processed meats to ensure food safety, texture, flavor and more.  Meat our guest: He holds BS and MS in Food Technology...

Dr. Dale Woerner is an Associate Professor and Cargill Endowed Professor at Texas Tech University. Today, Dr. Woerner, Blake Foraker, and Jenna Frink discuss the benefits and challenges of beef X dairy crossbreeding production systems in the U.S. Meat our guest: Dr. Woerner earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Animal Science, Meat and Food Industry Management from Texas Tech University in 2003 and...

We feature Rebecca Thistlethwaite who is the Director of the Niche Meat Processor Assistance Network (NMPAN), an Extension community-of-practice housed at Oregon State University. She highlights the role of NMPAN and how this organization helps meat processors across the U.S. Rebecca has over 23 years working in agriculture in many different facets, from farmworker and farm owner to agricultural r...

Our guest on this week’s episode is Dr. Bucky Gwartney, an International Marketing Specialist with the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service. He discusses about the role of USDA-AMS in providing beef grading services to large and small meat processors. He is responsible for the development and oversight of red meat standards, which include the beef yield and quality grades, among other standards, an...

In this episode we sit down with Dr. Anna Dilger, an Associate Professor of Meat Science and Muscle Biology at the University of Illinois, and we dive into policy, research, and pork quality. Dr. Dilger shares some suggestions for small and mid-sized meat processors who may use inexpensive tools like measuring pH to improve pork quality. Meat our guest : She is a graduate of Purdue University of t...

This week our guest is Noah Hall, a Director of Processing and Kill Floor Equipment for UltraSource in Kansas City. He will share more about his role and meat processing education opportunities that are available in the meat industry for meat processors who seek to expand their knowledge. Meat out guest: Noah is a native of North Dakota and received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineeri...

We are honored to host Dr. Michael Dikeman this week on MeatsPad. Dr. Dikeman is a Professor Emeritus in Meat Science at Kansas State University. Today, he shares about his research contributions and their impact on the meat industry after nearly 50 years of teaching and conducting research at K-State. Early in his career, he cooperated with U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska for 18 year...

We feature Dr. Travis Arp who is the Senior Director of Export Services/Access for the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF). Today, Dr. Arp shares about the importance of the quality attributes of the meat produced in the U.S. Also, he explains in detail about those factors that make the U.S. meat industry a very competitive and successful industry. Travis started with USMEF in October, 2012. At US...

Our guest this week is Dr. Jonathan Campbell who is an Associate Professor at Penn State University. Dr. Campbell discussed today about the art of curing and the applications of Sodium Nitrate and Nitrite in processed meats. Meat our guest: Dr. Campbell began his career in the meat industry in 1998 while working as an Animal Science undergraduate student in the Meat Laboratory at Clemson Universit...

In this episode we feature Dr. Kurt Vogel who is an Associate Professor of Animal Welfare and Behavior at the University of Wisconsin – River Falls. Dr. Vogel talks about the importance of humane handling and slaughter of livestock. He also explains more in depth about efficient stunning methods in meat processing facilities. He teaches courses in animal welfare, animal physiology, and meat scienc...

Our guest this week is Dr. Aladin Bekhit, a Meat Scientist and Associate Professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand. Dr. Bekhit’s research interests include muscle biochemistry and other factors that control meat quality, more specifically the color of fresh meat and tenderness. He also studies the waste streams in meat processing facilities. Meat our guest: He obtained his PhD in Biochem...

This week our guest is Dr. Dustin Mohrhauser who is an Associate Pork Quality Manager at Smithfield Foods. He will share today with us about some routes for retail business to communicate with large pork processors when procuring fresh pork. Pork abscesses are not very common but may be formed due to lesions or vaccinations. Meat our guest: Dustin earned undergraduate degrees (BS ’07) as well as g...

Our guest this week is Dr. de Mello who is the Meat Science and Food Safety Program Leader for the University of Nevada, Reno. He shares with us some of his work on meat and nutrigenomics and how feeding cattle different diets will affect the microRNA profile in beef and may be used as biomarkers for meat quality. Over the course of his professional and academic career, he taught animal products a...

This week we feature Dr. David Gerrard, a Professor and Head of the Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech. Dr. Gerrard has devoted his career to study the mechanisms controlling energy metabolism in skeletal muscle. This dialogue will serve as an introductory episode which outlines the basics of Meat Science. Meat our guest: He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph. D. from Purdue Un...

Our guests this week are Collette Kaster and Deidrea Mabry who lead the American Meat Science Association (AMSA), the premier organization for meat scientists that work in all segments of the global meat and livestock industries as well as government and academia. Collette Kaster currently serves as the CEO for the American Meat Science Association and also serves as the Executive Director for PAA...

Our guest this week is Dr. Sara Gragg who is an Associate Professor at Kansas State University. During this episode, she will discuss about the importance of antimicrobial interventions and she will provide an update on current strategies used in the meat industry. Dr. Gragg earned her undergraduate degree in Food Science & Technology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before moving to Te...

We are featuring Abbie Uhlenkott and Brendan Negri who work in an American Wagyu beef processing facility in the Northwest. Abbie grew up around cattle in rural Idaho and graduated from the University of Idaho with a B.S. in Animal and Veterinary Science and a B.S. in Agricultural Economics. Our other guest, Brendan Negri, grew up in the outdoors of southern Idaho and earned his B.S. in Natural Re...

This week, we feature Dr. Chris R. Calkins who is a Professor of Animal Science at the University of Nebraska. He earned B.S. and Ph. D. degrees from Texas A&M University and a M.S. degree from the University of Tennessee. He has several hundred refereed journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings, holds 6 patents, and has received millions of dollars in research support. Dr. Ca...

Our guest this week is Dr. Dustin Boler who is a Meat Scientist with Topigs Norsvin. He earned undergraduate degrees at Purdue University (BS ’04) and graduate degrees at the University of Illinois (MS ’08, PhD ’11). Following graduation, he was on faculty at Ohio State and the University of Illinois, where his research focused on fresh pork quality.  He has interacted with industry partners to ev...

This episode will cover the current impact of the increase in size and weight of cattle, carcasses, and subprimal cuts due to this pandemic.  Jessica Lancaster is a third year PhD student at the University of Idaho studying Meat Science under the mentorship of Dr. Phil Bass. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Animal Science at Colorado State University. She then continued onto the University...

Our guest this week is Dr. Jennifer Acuff, an Assistant Professor of Food Microbiology at University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR. Although her integrated research, extension, and teaching program is currently focused on serving the producers of Arkansas, Dr. Acuff is no stranger to working and collaborating with processors and universities throughout the U.S. Dr. Acuff was born and raised in C...