UI course gives students first-hand experience in field of meat harvesting, processing

Dr. Floyd McKeith, professor in Animal Sciences, demonstrates steps in the meat curing process at the Meat Sciences Lab on Tuesday. McKeith, who has been at the University for 28 years, teaches the course, ANSC 119, titled Meat Technology.
Wesley Fane The Daily Illini

If you have to be awake and functioning at 6:30 a.m., nothing hits the spot quite like fresh sausage patties — unless you’re not eating them. Rather, you’re grinding and mixing extra chunks of lean and fatty trim to create those tasty patties for the morning people of the world.

Students enrolled in Animal Sciences (ANSC) 119, a course offered through the college of ACES, get a rare glimpse into the process of transforming live animals into food products that are safe for the public to consume.

Claire Zoellner, sophomore in ACES, opted to take the class as an elective because she heard from a former lab partner that it was interesting. Katy Schaus, also a sophomore in ACES, registered for the class with Zoellner because she thought “if we took it together, we could survive.”

Students in the class attend a 50-minute lecture once a week and three-hour lab sessions twice a week. Although a three-hour lab that starts before most students even think about getting out of bed might seem horrible, the lab sessions are when students get the most hands-on experience. Consequently, the labs are their favorite part of the class.

“It’s really intense, you learn a lot,” Schaus said. “You’re never just standing around doing nothing — there’s always something to do.”

The class, which is only offered during the fall semester, takes the students through every step of the harvest process. Zoellner, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs, was not familiar with agricultural terminology in the beginning of the semester.

“The first lecture he didn’t use the word ‘slaughter’, he used the term ‘harvest’,” Zoellner said. “We didn’t really know what it was all about.”

Meat sits in a collection bin at the Meat Sciences Lab on Tuesday. The course ANSC 119, called Meat Technology, is an introduction into the processes of harvesting and processing meat.
Wesley Fane The Daily Illini

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The first week of lab was the only time during the semester where the students were not able to directly participate; the 17 students in the class watched the instructor, Dr. Floyd McKeith, and several teaching assistants demonstrate how to properly stun and kill the livestock before showing them how to separate the different cuts of meat.

“I’m glad we saw it before we did it because then we were a lot more prepared,” Schaus said. “When you’re actually doing it you’re not thinking about how gross it is. The hardest part of the whole class is waking up, actually.”

Schaus and Zoellner said they ride their bikes to the Meat Science Lab in Urbana while it’s still dark out, sometimes as early as 5:20 a.m. They’ve never gotten nauseous or physically ill from the class, at least partly because their dorm cafeteria is not open by the time they leave.

“It’s a real commitment,” Schaus said. “You have to get up.”

In lecture, McKeith walks the students through all of the steps in order to prepare them for the lab sessions later in the week.

“We go through the anatomy and the bones and everything,” Zoellner said.

During the lab, students are required to identify the muscles within different cuts of meat.

“At first they all looked the same, but they really quiz us while we’re cutting it,” Zoellner said.

Schaus and Zoellner brought their lessons from class into their everyday lives, including their mealtimes.

“We would go to the cafeteria and see pork and we would go, ‘Oh! That’s the psoas major!’” Schaus said.

Despite the fact that neither Schaus nor Zoellner grew up in a traditional farm setting like their peers in the class, they have not become vegetarians or had any problems consuming meat products because of what they’ve seen in class. On the contrary, Zoellner said taking the class has taught her how safe the American meat supply is.

“There’s always an inspector at the plant,” Schaus said. “They show us what to look for, and if there’s anything wrong with it, they can’t use it.”

Zoellner said the meat they package at the plant is sold to the public at a meat market.

“There are inspections at every step. We learn a lot about meat supply controls and contaminants,” Zoellner said. “It’s very safe and clean.”

Chuck Stites, the meat processing plant’s manager, oversees equipment and assists in showing students how to properly use the machinery. Stites also documents everything the students do while processing the meat, including checking the temperature of the sausage and ground beef before freezing it.

On the day the students made sausage, Stites explained the importance of keeping meat very cold to prevent bacterial growth. The University lab sets an upper limit of 50 degrees Fahrenheit while processing meat. The patties processed by the students checked out at 30 degrees.

In order to keep the meat at this temperature, the grinding room is kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Over their layers of thermals, tee shirts and hooded sweatshirts, every student is required to wear a white lab coat and a hairnet or hat.

This is in stark contrast to the start of the semester, when students spent the three-hour lab sessions on the kill floor, in extreme heat, ripping out internal fat from the organ cavities and using heavy chainsaws to split carcasses. Not quite the same as carving a pumpkin or slicing pineapple from the rind.

“You’re definitely sweating,” Zoellner said. “It was physically exhausting.” Referring to their chilly mornings in the lab, Schaus said they “went from one extreme to the other.”

As part of the class requirements, all the students had to purchase a set of knives and boots.

“We carry our knives on our handlebars because we don’t want to put them in our backpack after we wash them on our way back,” Schaus said.

Schaus said she appreciates the small class size and one-on-one interactions she gets to have with the professor.

The smaller class size is also a reason McKeith has taught the class for the past 29 years. Even if students do not end up in the meat science field, McKeith said it’s important for students to understand the basic principles and the science behind meat processing.

“Since it’s almost all lab, you get the chance to get to know the students and interact with them,” McKeith said.

Matthew Briscoe, senior in ACES, said he values the class for its uniqueness. Even after hunting and growing up on a cattle and goat farm, Briscoe said the class has given him experience in seeing how different cuts of meat are made and processing animal products.

“It’s not for the faint of heart, though,” Briscoe said.