WORKING AT THE AUBURN UNIVERSITY LAMBERT POWELL MEATS LABORATORY
After officially changing my major to Muscle Foods during the summer of 2015, I decided to inquire about getting hands-on experience at the Auburn University Lambert Powell Meats Laboratory, which operates as a state of the art teaching, research, and extension facility. August through December 2015 I volunteered and was hired on as a student worker in January 2016. Since working at the meats lab, I have gained experience doing everything from slaughter all the way through retail of fresh and further processed products. I believe working through every step of the process has given me a better understanding of the field and will be beneficial in any career I may have in the future.
MEAT PROCESSING CLASS TRIP - OCTOBER 2015
While enrolled in the Meat Processing class with Dr. Christy Bratcher, we were given the opportunity to attend a class trip which allowed us to tour facilities of companies in various sectors of the meat science field.
The four day trip through Florida included tours of the following establishments:
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Larry Kline Wholesale Meats.......................................Deerfield Beach, Florida
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Murvest Fine Foods, Inc..............................................Fort Lauderdale, Florida
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Publix Corportate Headquarters and Facilites..........Lakeland, Florida
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Buckhead Beef.............................................................Auburndale, Florida
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Bari Beef International.................................................Orlando, Florida
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University of Florida Meat Science Facilities.............Gainsville, Florida
I found this trip to be very eye-opening and beneficial in guiding my future decisions. Although I took something away from each individual tour, two stood out the most and have stuck with me. The first being Publix, and the second being Bari Beef International.
While at the Publix Headquarters, some of the top managers for the meat and seafood divisions of the company told us about their education, careers, and opportunities within Publix To any other person this could sound boring, but to me, it was a sigh of relief. Every single person that spoke told us that they did not find their "dream" job pertaining to their field of study immediately after college, but eventually ended up there. Every time I am asked "What do you want to do with your life?" I think back to this tour and know that one day I will be able to answer this question, but it doesn't have to be today.
The next day we visited Bari Beef International, where we toured their plant and then were escorted to their saloon conference room. Here we were introduced to the people behind the Italian imports portion of the business and chefs prepared an extravegant meal for the group. After asking a few questions, we learned that the chefs worked alongside chefs of high-end restaurants to help them compile menus and recipes according to what cut of meat they would like to serve. This is where I realized it is possible for my passion for cooking and interest in meat science to be merged.
I am a member of the American Meat Science Association and had the opportunity to attend the Student Leadership Conference March 11-12, 2016 at the Kansas State, Olathe campus. We began day one with tours of two local businesses that offered a peek at just how diverse the field of meat science is. The first was Bichelmeyer Meats, a family owned business started in the early 1900's, where I learned not only about the history, but also some rules to live by. Founder John Bichelmeyer was known for offering life lessons, that his daughter, Mary B. Lucas, decided to document in a short novel titled Lunchmeat and Life Lessons (which I highly recommend reading). The second tour, UltraSource, allowed us to see behind-the-scenes work of many different types of equipment used in food processing facilities. The tours were then followed by presentations from people in various departments of Smithfield Foods, dinner and time to mingle with other students and presenters, and a hypnotist show to end the night. Day two of the conference focused on the perspectives of leadership, communication through various media, and interview techniques. After being broken into small groups, we rotated through three guest speakers to discuss the importance of communicating agriculture and meat science in a way that the general public can understand. But more importantly, emphasizing actually communicating to the public about animal agriculture to spread the word through radio/television interviews and social media.