U.S. education system places higher priority on the field because of more job opportunities for meat scientists
Laura Kehler was in for a surprise when she moved to Manitoba from the United States.
However, her surprise wasn’t caused by -30 C temperatures or swarms of mosquitoes.
Instead, she was caught off guard by the lack of meat scientists.
Kehler, who has a master’s degree in meat science from Oklahoma State University, moved to Carman in 2008 to join her now husband, Jason Kehler.
Kehler took a position as a senior scientist with the Food Development Centre in Portage la Prairie, Man., and quickly realized that meat scientist is an unusual job in Manitoba.
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“In Canada, it’s not a popular profession, but in the United States, it’s very common,” said Kehler, who no longer works as a meat scientist because she’s a full-time mother.
Many U.S. universities have dedicated programs that award hundreds of bachelor degrees in meat science every year.
Kehler said those sorts of programs make sense, considering the importance of meat and the size of the protein industry.
“If you think about (it), two of your three meals a day, people eat meat,” she said. “Think about all the animals that are harvested every day.”
Meat scientists study areas such as how livestock feed affects meat quality and nutritional value and how to develop a safe food product from an animal carcass.
“Think about chicken nuggets from McDonald’s,” Kehler said.
“Somebody has to come up with that and make sure there’s food safety built in so a 16-year-old can cook (it) in a safe way…. There is so much that goes into meat science, but you don’t think about it.”
Canadian universities have graduate students who specialize in meat science, but undergraduate programs do not exist.
“We don’t actually have a bachelor of science in meat science,” said Heather Bruce, associate professor in agriculture at the University of Alberta, where she focuses on carcass and meat science.
Bachelor degrees in meat science are commonplace in the U.S. for historical reasons. Land grant universities had to establish meat science programs to qualify for government funding.
“In the U.S., they have meat science buildings (at universities),” Bruce said.
“We don’t have that kind of facility (in Canada) for meat science only.”
Canadian students with an interest in meat would likely earn an undergraduate degree in food science, animal science or nutrition before studying meat science at the graduate level.
However, most Canadian universities lack the facilities to study meat. The University of Guelph is the only institution that has an abattoir and cutting room on site.
The University of Alberta works with meat processing companies so that graduate students can do research. Despite the challenges, meat science is relatively robust.
“We have a very healthy population of graduate students (in meat science),” Bruce said.
“We also have a critical mass of professors.”
Canada’s meat industry is much smaller than the U.S., but demand for meat experts remains high.
“There has been a need for more graduates going into the meat industry.… You do need a certain population of your workers who understand meat as a biological system,” Bruce said.
“It would certainly be nice if we had a formal meat science program in Canada. That’s something we’re trying to establish at the University of Alberta.”
Developing an undergraduate degree program in meat science will take time because it requires government approval.
robert.arnason@producer.com
