Meat Science Team Hosts Albertsons Training

About 20 meat cutters with Albertsons Companies sharpened their skills during a recent training workshop that University of Idaho’s meat science team facilitated at the True West Beef plant in Jerome.

Phil Bass, an associate professor of meat science, and graduate student, Corbin Fornes, conducted the training for members of the Albertsons Intermountain Meat Leadership Team in May.

U of I has offered regular meat cutting training as a service to Idaho retailers throughout the past eight years. The recent training was a collaboration also involving the Idaho Beef Council and True West Beef. U of I typically leads two trainings per year.

“We’ve done these workshops in the past with different retailers, and what we see is the excitement of the meat case increases in stores in those regions because folks are learning more of where their products come from,” Bass said, adding establishing ties with industry aids in student placement.

Most retail meat cutters learn on the job, receiving instruction from more experienced peers. Bass seeks to give workshop participants a more wholistic view of meat science, which helps meat cutters better respond to customers’ questions about how to use various meat products. Participants learn which parts of the carcass yield specific cuts, as well as the characteristics and attributes of those cuts.

“A lot of them have worked up through the company. They’ve cut steaks and roasts, but not a lot of them have had a chance to cut whole carcasses before,” Bass said. “This was to empower them. These are folks talking to the general consumer, who needs to have education about how to prepare something.”

During the first afternoon of the training, Bass led the group in whole carcass fabrication. The following day, the group discussed general meat science concepts such as aging and color. They further broke down some of the meat they’d cut during the prior day into steaks and roasts and focused on merchandizing. The meat cutters were also impressed by the efficiency and cleanliness of the True West plant.

“It was obvious these folks felt more empowered to go back and tell the story of meat and beef cuts back in their communities,” Bass said. “It’s an opportunity to build teamwork, and once they leave these trainings, they’re usually excited about their job and excited to talk to customers about different cuts of meat and how to prepare them.”

U of I has also hosted trainings at the Moscow campus and will have a modern facility for future workshops once the college opens an 11,000-square-foot new abattoir, the Meat Science and Innovation Center Honoring Ron Richard, this fall. U of I also hosted past workshops at CS Beef Packers in Kuna, and the university trained meat department managers with Broulim’s Fresh Foods at the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus in Rexburg last year.

“For the folks we’ve worked with in the past, it definitely increases employee retention and satisfaction, and meat packers who go through trainings have noticeable increases in meat sales,” Bass said.

Published in Catching Up with CALS