Ohio State ATI students will be able to learn more about meat science and will be able to obtain food-safety certification, thanks in part to a recent gift from Certified Angus Beef LLC.
The newly created Wooster Campus Meat Science Faculty Support Fund (#315572) has allowed Assistant Professor Daniel Clark to help bring a meat science class to ATI and has allowed him to prepare to help teach an industry-requested, food-safety-certification course.
Clark is co-teaching Introduction to Meat Science with Assistant Professor Lyda Garcia, both of the CFAES Department of Animal Sciences. Students at both the Columbus and Wooster campuses will take the course as a distance-learning hybrid, with instructors trading off live, in-person lectures and video conferencing, Clark said.
Introduction to Meat Science had not been offered previously at ATI, Clark said, but it is now planned for spring semester 2018.
“We’re trying to build the Meat Science program while students are here, but also for when they transfer,” Clark said. “It makes it easier for them to get into a meat science minor — if not a meat science major — after they transfer to Columbus.”
In addition, Clark is preparing to teach a food-safety course for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification. The plan is to offer the course beginning in summer 2018.
“The food industry in Northeast Ohio is growing. Every plant has to have someone who is HACCP-certified for foodsafety regulations. There are opportunities in Columbus to get certified. We want to offer similar opportunities for the Northeast Ohio region,” he said.
Local industry stakeholders have identified having employees with HACCP certification as a need, which will create job opportunities for those who have had the training, Clark said.
“A lot of our ATI students want to stay local. By increasing opportunities at ATI, it allows them to take on something like a food-safety job and allows them to stay closer to home,” he said.
In addition to meat science, Clark’s research also focuses on the study of musclebiology characteristics and the improvement of meat quality after slaughter. Matthew Marx