How it started
I discovered my passion for meat science while taking a meats judging course alongside a meat science course my sophomore year at Texas A&M University. I quickly became fascinated with the subject and added a certificate in meat science to my degree. Currently, I have interests in food/meat science, quality assurance, product development, research and development, food safety and security and sensory science.
My meat science curriculum includes… meat science | advanced meat science and technology | meats judging and evaluation | marketing and grading of livestock and meat | meat merchandising | food bacteriology | hazard analysis and critical control points | sensory and evaluation of foods.
Product Development
While enrolled in my advanced meat science and technology course, I was given the opportunity to work with two other individuals to develop a new, fresh sausage product. In order to drive creativity, our sausage had to meet two standards: it was to follow the theme “supper” and it was to contain at least one vegetable. Our group came up with a “Texas BBQ” theme which was inspired by all foods you would see on your plate at your favorite BBQ restaurant in Texas.
Our sausage contained: pork, brisket, saltine crackers, cheese, pickles, jalapenos, salt, and pepper. After our sausage was crafted, we created consumer ballots and ran sensory testing on the product to receive feedback for future improvements.
Research
As a part of my senior curriculum, I completed a research project looking into the carcinogenic classification of red meat. In this research, I went through several studies cited by the World Health Organization used to determine red meats carcinogenic classification as well as other studies looking at red meats long term effect on human health and its link to colorectal cancer.
I spent a total of 5 months collecting, reading and interpreting relevant information, writing a research paper and preparing a presentation based on my findings. My research paper is available to read below.