The American Meat Science Association (AMSA) has announced that the 2015 PORK 101 courses will be held May 19-21 at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas and October 19-21 at Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa. PORK 101 is hosted by AMSA in cooperation with the National Pork Board and is sponsored by Elanco Animal Health.

Attendees will experience firsthand in the selection, evaluation and fabrication of their pork carcasses. As well as, the importance of hog handling, grading, food safety and much more. The course concludes with the attendees preparing and sampling products from pork carcasses including pumped loins, bacon, hams and sausage.

These attendees will have the opportunity to learn about the value differences in swine, pork carcasses, pork primals and processed pork products from meat science faculty and AMSA members at each university.

The program features:

  • Live Hog Grading and Evaluation
  • Lean Value Pricing
  • Quality Management at Slaughter
  • Slaughter Floor HACCP
  • Measuring Carcass Quality and Composition
  • Process Control Testing
  • Fresh Sausage Production
  • Pork Carcass Fabrication
  • Value Addition
  • Consistency Improvement
  • Enhanced Pork Production
  • Curing Production
  • Retail and Consumer Issues

Past attendees of the AMSA PORK 101 Course can attest to the importance of attending.

· I can speak to the entire process of how pork in harvested now. Understanding the primals and the bone-in/boneless cuts is very important in my role.

· This course provides an excellent foundation for anyone and all people working in the pork industry.

· Great course! I felt like the hands-on cutting was a great learning tool where I grew more familiar with each of the cuts of pork.

PORK 101 is co-sponsored by the American Association of Meat Processors (AAMP), American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), North American Meat Institute Foundation (NAMIF) and the Southwest Meat Association (SMA). Registration for AMSA members and other partnering organizations is $800. Non-member registration is $950.

For more information or questions regarding PORK 101 please visit: http://www.meatscience.org/events-education/pork-101or contact Deidrea Mabry dmabry@meatscience.org.

Source: AMSA