CREATING A PIPELINE OF FUTURE PROFESSIONALS TO ENSURE A SAFE AND RESILIENT MEAT SUPPLY CHAIN

Our goal is to develop a pipeline of trained, credentialed, and diverse professionals for a safe and resilient meat processing industry. Specifically, our focus is to provide highly skilled personal to work at all levels within small and very small meat processing plants, serving consumers and farmers at the local level. This could include highly trained people for positions in management, animal harvest, carcass fabrication, value-added meat processing, artisan meat crafting, food safety / HACCP coordinator, quality control, packaging, sanitation, and sales and marketing. Our programs will specifically emphasize beef processing, because that is by far the largest meat animal sector in the southwestern U.S., with a secondary emphasis on pork processing.