Meat+Poultry - March 2023 - 44

MEAT SNACK MANIA
The Meat Snacks Short Course utilizes UW-M's
on-campus Meat Science and Animal Biologics
Discovery building, which opened in late 2020. The
new facility includes a state-of-the-art processing
plant as well as student-friendly lecture halls.
Sindelar pointed out that Wisconsin has
some of the top manufacturers for ingredients
and casings used in the production of meat snack
products. The latest short course was sold out
with 55 attendees from coast to coast and 12-15
people attending from the state of Wisconsin.
DISCOVERING OPPORTUNITIES
Along with the culture of meat snacks, another
selling point for the course was the Meat
Science and Animal Biologics Discovery
(MSABD) building on campus, which opened
in November 2020.
The lab features all the equipment typically
found in a meat processing plant, giving the
university a chance to do full demonstrations
of meat product manufacturing in a realworld
environment.
" It's interesting to watch, observe and try to
understand the growth, " he said, " and if there's
a bubble...I don't think that's the case because
we still see significant expansion and growth in
the marketplace and the sector. "
Meat snacks remain a big part of the meat
culture in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest.
Holding this event at a large land grant
university gives people from the region and the
rest of the United States a chance to exchange
ideas on how to make meat snacks better.
When Sindelar moved to Madison about
15 years ago, he joked that everybody in the
state would make a beef summer sausage
or beef snack stick. Still, from a technical
standpoint, they always provide a more
significant challenge because of the technology
behind snacks.
" There definitely is a culture for fermented
semi-dry products and even dry products that
really fall into this category, " he said.
44 MEAT+POULTRY | 03.23 | www.meatpoultry.com
Sindelar said that in the large lecture hall,
there is a demonstration cooler and large
windows for people to see into the USDAinspected
meat processing area.
During the course, attendees can go into
the space and have small production lines
running through demonstrations of different
technologies, processes and equipment. Some
products made during the course included
jerky, snack sticks, meat bars and landjäger,
a traditional European meat snack. Sindelar
said all the products were cooked by the end
of the program on the third day so they could
be sampled.
Workshop organizers then documented the
cooking process so they could report it as an
educational piece for the participants to see
the process from start to finish.
Undergraduate and graduate students at
UW-Madison were heavily involved the week
of the course, helping with the presentations,
interacting with participants and networking
for future job opportunities in the industry.
The cost of the course was $1,200 per
person according to University of Wisconsin
CALS website. The Wisconsin Meat Processing
School's upcoming courses include a Wisconsin
Harvest and Fabrication School, which is
scheduled for June 13.
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - March 2023

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