Progress 09/15/23 to 09/14/24

Outputs
Target Audience:The Meat Science and Innovation Center advisory board was developed and the first meeting was held in April. Below is the portion of the Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences Department bylaws addressing the Meat Science Innovation Center. ARTICLE 7. MEAT SCIENCE INNOVATION CENTER 7.1 Objective The objective of the MSIC is to support the mission of the AVFS Department with a specific focus on undergraduate and graduate student education, relevant livestock and meat industry research, and delivery of extension programing to serve youth, consumers, producers, processors, and retailers. 7.2 Advisory Board 7.2.1 Purpose The purpose of the Meat Science Innovation Center (MSIC) Advisory Board will be to provide guidance with regards to breadth, depth, and quality of undergraduate and graduate offerings; Extension programs; outreach; and research within meat science and offer recommendations with the goal of building a multidisciplinary meat science program that is nationally recognized. In addition, the MSIC Advisory Board will provide advice and support related to positioning of the meat science program within the Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences Department (AVFS), College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), and the University of Idaho (UI). 7.2.2 Membership, Chair, and Meetings The AVFS Department Head with input from meat science faculty members and stakeholders will appoint an MSIC Advisory Board constituted of 5-6 members with 1-2 members from each of the following: small meat processors, large meat processors, meat retailers, and UI faculty. Members will serve staggered 3-year terms. A member can serve 2 consecutive 3 year terms. A chair will be chosen from the members in consultation with the AVFS Department Head. One of the members (preferably the chair) will represent MSIC on the AVFS Advisory Board. The MSIC Advisory Board will meet 1-2 times each year and report their findings to the Department Head of AVFS, the Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences as well as relevant industry partners. Changes/Problems:The ground work has been completed for the new facility. The plan was for constuction to begin in May. Unfortunatelly the sub contractor bids came in high. Therefore, certain portions of the project are being rebid. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Once the facility is built training and professional development opporunities will be abundent. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results from 5 research projects were desimenated at the Reciprocal Meat Conference. Surveys from the extension program are being evaluated currently. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Hopefully a year from now the new facility will be completed. We plan to continue our current courses, research, and extension programs until then.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? 1. The team currently has 7 graduate students. One M.S. degree student recently completed her degree and has began her Ph.D. program. One undergraduate member of the meat science research team conducted a research project and presented the results at the UI Undergraduate Research Symposium.The meat science related courses had 95 undergraduate students enrolled. 2. Graduate students presented 5posters at the Reciprocal Meat Conference in Oklahoma City this past summer. Topics focused on meat consumption to uitilizing natural ingredients to reduce meat discoloration. Reducing discoloration would reduce food waste and improve sustainability of the meat industries. 3. The team presented numerous regional workshops to producers, processors, and youth. The highlight program is the Beef 101: Begining Farmers and Ranchers program which hosted 55 participates at the current meat facility on campus.

Publications