Source: UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION submitted to NRP
ESTABLISHING AN EDUCATIONAL PIPELINE TO STRENGTHEN THE MEAT POULTRY PROCESSING INDUSTRY WORKFORCE IN GUAM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
ACTIVE
Funding Source
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1029889
Grant No.
2023-70430-39282
Cumulative Award Amt.
$475,001.00
Proposal No.
2022-11721
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Mar 15, 2023
Project End Date
Mar 14, 2027
Grant Year
2023
Program Code
[AA-Q]- Resident Instruction Grants for Insular Areas
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF GUAM UOG STATION
(N/A)
MANGILAO,GU 96913
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The main goal of this proposal is to develop workforce for the meat and poultry processing (MPP) industry in Guam. We are proposing a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate that will provide focus training that will cultivate a new generation workforce with theunderstanding of animal harvest, meat processing, food safety, and agriculture business management. Through a collaboration between the University of Guam and the College of Micronesia - FSM (COM-FSM), and the University of Puerto Rico participating university students will have the opportunity to become active industry professionals. Three specific objectives are proposed: 1. Establish a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate- Design and implement a certificate in MPP that includes industry-approved certifications in food and employee safety and an integration component (i.e., internship or project). Students will be provided with necessary tools to work in an existing MPP facility or establish their own business. 2. Offer a "671 Workshop Series" which will focus on providing hands-on experience for red meat processing, HACCP plan training, and Business Management. Students will gain be challenged with real word problems. 3. Offer a "Taiwan Study Tour" to allow students to visit facilities and industries and gain experience, in traveling to Taiwan's meat and poultry industry and slaughter facilities that are HACCP certified. - Student will gain insight and common challenge in the industry in a setting that are more similar to Guam or the FSM. The primary result of the project should be the generation of MPP-competent and food safety knowledgeable professionals that meets the US industry standards.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
50132103020100%
Goals / Objectives
The main goal of this proposal is to develop workforce for the meat and poultry proecssing (MPP) industry on Guam. We are proposing a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate that will provide focus training that will cultivate new generation workforce with the understanding of animal harvest, meat processing, food safety, and agriculture business management. Through a collaboration between the University of Guam and the College of Micronesia - FSM (COM-FSM), and the Palau Community College (to be confirmed) participating university students will have the opportunity to become active industry professionals. Three specific objectives are proposed: 1. Establish a graduate and/or undergraduate certificate- Design and implement a certificate in MPP that includes industry-approved certifications in food and employee safety and an integration component (i.e., internship or project). Students will be provided with the necessary tools to work in an existing MPP facility or establish their own business. 2. Offer a "671 Workshop Series" which will focus on providing hands-on experience for red meat processing, HACCP plan training, and Business Management. Students will gain be challenged with real word problems. 3. Offer a "Taiwan Study Tour" to allow students to visit facilities and industries and gain experience, in traveling to Taiwan's meat and poultry industry and slaughter facilities that are HACCP certified. - Student will gain insight and common challenge in the industry in a setting that is more similar to Guam or the FSM. The primary result of the project should be the generation of MPP-competent and food safety knowledgeable professionals that meet the US industry standards.
Project Methods
Accomplishment of Objective 1 (Establish an undergraduate/graduate PP certificate) requires collaboration between participating institutions and industry representatives to identify curriculum content. Investigators recognize that approval processes of the developed academic offering might take over a year to complete. However, both Institutions recognize and promote student participation in events as part of externally funded projects. Furthermore, UOG has the Office of Global Learning and Engaging that allows the offer of courses and certifications beyond UOG-approved programs. If need be, certificate issuance can be coordinated through GLE until the certificate approval process is completed.Investigator-industry meeting - Development of a robust industry-recognized curriculum requires stakeholder input. Thus, a meeting between investigators and industry representatives needs to be organized. In preparation for the meeting, one-on-one conversations will be carried out with stakeholders (i.e., slaughterhouses and processing plants) to explain the project and seek feedback of knowledge and skills of professionals.Gathered inputs will be organized and used by investigators to determine current course offerings at UOG that could be included (as-is or after course content revision), as well as courses to be developed. All data will be presented at the investigators-industry meeting to generate the required discussion leading to curriculum definition.Student selection process - Student recruitment criteria will be defined by investigators to ensure equal and fair opportunities to interested students in all three institutions. Current outlook is for participating students not to be restricted to be Agriculture majors. Investigators agree that participating students from diverse academic fields might result in a richer learning experience and better prepared professionals. Three waves of recruited students are foreseen, starting from years 2. The projects target is to recruit 3-4 students from UOG, 2-3 students from FSM-COM and 2-3 students from USPR, for a total range of 7- 10 students per recruitment class. This distribution is based on budget requirements of the 8 RFA but could be modified based on student applications (i.e., availability or perceived potential) and investigator's consensus. By the end of the project, we expect to impact 30 students in total (9-12 from UOG, 6-9 from FSM-COM and 6-9 from USPR). Student mentoring will be provided by investigators to make sure students at all institutions are guided thought the program and have increased chances of success in their academic formation and future professional development.

Progress 03/15/24 to 03/14/25

Outputs
Target Audience:We have create the foundation layout of the Meat and Processing Workshop, and fully promoted the study abroad tour for the certificate during our events including our Charter Day and other recruitment event such as an open forum for students Q&A regarding to the program. Throughout the event we were able to attract more than 15 particpants that are interested, 9 of them had UOG student status. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?1. The 671 workshops will include training in the field offood safety, meat and poultry processing, and basic fianace. Students will gain foundation layout in learning proper food handling and food pathogen, meat product processing (sausage and Ham), Poultry harvest and packaging, and cost analysis for products that were developed. 2. In the study tour, a certificate of course completion will be issued by National Chung Hsing University Animal Science department. The course includes food safety, haccp introduction, goat and pig carcass breakdown, and red for semi-hemogonized meat products.The course is expected to be 22 hrs long that will be split into three days. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan on compiling report for the 1. 671 workshop series, 2. the study tour. And reflect on what needs to be improved. 3. We anticapate to have report and feedback in the course of meat science that we are currently working on to provide for the students in the fall of 2025 or spring of 2026.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. Equipment orders, Facility readiness, material development are in progress for the "671 workshop series". The workshop is currently scheduled to take place in Augest and will only be marketed towards students for the pilot run as our facility have a limited capacity. 2. Coordination, promotion, and selection of candidate is currently in progress for the study tour. The study tour will take place between 7/2-7/16. Where the tour will have a strong sense of focus in "meat and Poultry processing" with some varities of topic that are animal sciences. In this year, 3. The research agreement is currently under progress with University of Peurto Rico. So we are looking into including students from UPRM for this trip or in the future.

Publications


    Progress 03/15/23 to 03/14/24

    Outputs
    Target Audience: Nothing Reported Changes/Problems:1. Rather than creating a certificate and recruit students from all institution within the year 5. We now propose to develop an undergraduate certificate in Meat and Poultry processing by the end of the grant for UOG and recruit only FSM to take the certificate. UPRM will be joining the summer workshops, and study tour via internship course with UOG and provide meat science course online for FSM and UOG until UOG establish the meat science course. 2. The summer workshop will be broken down into individual intensive workshop that rotates between poultry, swine, and goats for processing until the grant ends. By the end of the grant, we will then be able to provide workshop for all 3 species. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. We are currently working on establishinga facility to execute the proposed workshop/training for summer. 2. We are working on admin to start the study tour. 3. Pilot course of Meat science and processing will be developed and recruitment for the certificate will initiate

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? During the first year, we aligned the three institutions cirriculum in establishing a certificate. In June 10-14th the College of Microesnia send a delegation consist of adminstrator and faculty to UOG for signing MOU that will further promote the certificate. The certificate is current going through approval in the division and will be send out to senators approval in the coming semester.

    Publications