LOCAL & NATION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2019
THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD — 3B
Think you can you make the cut?
Judging meat: It’s a college ‘sport’
■ ■ Competing teams are intensely serious about the ability to recognize the slightest flaw in a cut of meat
By Jason Nark
The Philadelphia Inquirer
STATE COLLEGE, Pa.
— Students circled up in the
lecture hall and locked hands,
their red hardhats bowed to-
ward their boots. In a nearby
meat locker, their practice
exams hung on hooks.
They thanked the Lord for
safe travels from Lubbock,
Texas, to Pat’s and Geno’s
Steaks in South Philly, where
they sampled cheesesteaks,
and now to this small build-
ing in the shadow of Penn
State’s Beaver Stadium. After
a collective “amen,” the Texas
Tech University Red Raiders
went into the locker to scruti-
nize frozen pig carcasses and
other cuts of pork and beef.
“Welcome, meat judgers!”
was written on the dry-erase
board.
There is a competitive
world of collegiate meat judg-
ing, and in it, Texas Tech is
a dynasty, with the national
championship often changing
hands between that team and
archrival Oklahoma State.
Yes, this is serious, though a
recent Friday morning was
merely practice, a warm-up
for the Eastern National
Intercollegiate Meat Judging
Contest the following day
at Cargill Meat Solutions in
Bradford County. The Ameri-
can Meat Science Association
said the first such program
started in 1926 at the Inter-
national Livestock Exposition
in Chicago.
While there are trophies
and bragging rights involved,
meat judging, like agricul-
tural fairs, has real-world
applications for the beef in-
dustry, educators, and butch-
ers. Cuts of beef, fat content,
even bone-in vs. boneless are
standards checked by the
U.S. Department of Agri-
culture. Most competitions
are beef, pork, and lamb. In
some areas, though, hosts
will present a special cut for
judgment, such as goat in the
Southwest; in Pennsylvania
the next day, it would be veal.
“Those are national stan-
dards from East to West,”
said Jonathan A. Campbell,
an associate professor at
Penn State and the school’s
meat specialist. “Whether
you’re buying from California
or the Midwest or the East
Coast, meat companies would
standardize where those cuts
were from and what can and
can’t be in that package.”
That Friday, the University
of Florida team arrived at
Penn State’s Meats Labora-
tory first, and the Gators
were already in the meat
locker when Texas Tech’s
large team strode in wearing
knee-length, insulated red
coats. The teams were made
up of both men and women,
but while Florida and the
Ohio State Buckeyes had
about a half-dozen students
each, Texas Tech had nearly
two dozen, all of them in and
out of the freezers for the
early-morning “workouts.”
“I mean, we call it a
workout, but we’re not in
shape,” said Kyle Mendes, the
University of Florida’s meat
coach.
The Florida team also
came to Penn State via
Philadelphia, but skipped the
better-known cheesesteak
haunts for John’s Roast Pork
in South Philly. The Gators
were traveling in a 15-pas-
senger van.
Tim Tai / The Philadelphia Inquirer-TNS
University of Florida meat judging team members, including senior Allison Conchiglia, left, practice judging specifi-
cations at Penn State University’s meats lab in State College, Pennsylvania.
“I’ve been doing this
for 40 years. We’re here
to make sure we’re as
sharp as we can be for
tomorrow. Just like a
football team.”
— Mark Miller, coach of
Texas Tech University’s
meat-judging team
Look
online
for
local
food
stands
SALEM — Pump-
kins, apples, pears,
and squash are just a
few examples of the
favorites of fall har-
vest. If you want to
venture out into the
beautiful countryside
and buy seasonal
food directly from a
farmer or rancher —
where do you go?
“Everyone knows
where their local
farmers market is,
but not everyone
knows where to find
roadside farm stands,
pumpkin patches,
u-pick orchards,
and harvest events.
That’s where Or-
egon’s Bounty comes
in,” said Anne Marie
Moss, Oregon Farm
Bureau communica-
tions director.
Oregon’s Bounty
at OregonFB.org is
a searchable online
directory of nearly
300 family farms and
ranches that sell food
and foliage directly to
the public.
The Oregon’s
Bounty website
allows visitors to
search for a specific
agriculture product
— like pumpkins
or apples — and/
or search for farms
within a specific
region of the state,
such as Eastern Or-
egon, Portland Metro,
the Gorge or the
Willamette Valley.
Visitors can also do
a search for “u-pick”
or “events” to locate
those activities.
“Oregonians love
farm-fresh food.
Thanks to the diver-
sity of Oregon agri-
culture, we can buy
an enormous variety
of fruits, vegetables,
meat, nuts, flow-
ers, and much more
directly from the
families who grew it,”
Moss said.
State won the overall title for
the day.
In individual rankings,
Lehman came in seventh.
Oklahoma State, which
has won 19 national meat
judging championships, fin-
ished sixth in Pennsylvania.
The national championships
Tim Tai / The Philadelphia Inquirer-TNS take place next month in
University of Florida meat judging coach Kyle Mendes, left, a doctoral student in meat Dakota City, Neb.
science, talks to his team before they begin practice judging specifications at Penn
Conner McKinzie, who led
State University’s meats lab in State College, Pennsylvania.
the Texas Tech Raiders in
the Friday morning prayer at
“It renewed my faith in the
Joining a meat judg-
stood back and watched his
Penn State, said that most of
cheesesteak, but apparently I ing team provides ample
students. Some of the cuts, he his teammates are there for
should have gotten the pork,” networking for students who said, had defects purposely
the camaraderie. But they
Mendes said.
want to get into the beef
left in them, such as too
definitely want to beat the
Meat judging, as you
industry, like Jacob Lehman, much bone.
Cowboys come November.
might imagine, is more
a fourth-year animal science
“These cuts give us a
Last year, Texas Tech lost
popular in rural states where major at Florida.
universal language to under- to Oklahoma State by a mere
agriculture is a major force,
“I just haven’t decided if I stand what we’re asking for 48 points.
including Texas, Oklahoma, want to be in the live side of and what we’re getting,” he
“It is a competition,” said
Florida, California, and Colo- beef production or the dead
said.
McKinzie, of Stephenville,
rado. Texas is home to the
side,” Lehman said in the
Tommy Fletcher, 23, of La Texas. “We have a great
most beef cattle in the United meat lab’s lecture hall.
Vernia, Texas, is a gradu-
legacy and we always have
States, with 4.6 million.
Mendes said Texas Tech’s
ate student and coach at
the goal of winning and being
Pennsylvania ranks 33rd on coach, Mark Miller, is com-
Texas Tech. He was an all-
national champions.”
that list, with 225,000; New
parable to the nation’s best
American meat judge for the
Jersey is 44th, with 9,500.
football coaches. Miller is the team, training in high school
UNION COUNTY MUSEUM
Penn State did not have the “San Antonio Stock Show
thanks to Future Farmers
numbers to field a team this and Rodeo Distinguished
of America programs in his
THIRD TUESDAY SERIES Free !
year, but plaques from past
Chair in Meat Sciences” at
home state.
7 p.m., Tuesday, October 15
victories line a wall in the lec- Texas Tech, too, but remains
“It’s been a long couple of
ture hall. Campbell was more humble about the team’s
days,” he said. “Last night
The
than happy to let the teams
12 national championships.
was our first full night of
get some walk-throughs in
The previous day, his team
sleep.”
Little-Known
before the big day, though.
stopped at a veal plant for
The following morning, at
Story of
“We have the meat, and it’s some fine-tuning.
the Cargill plant in Wyalus-
something most teams would
“I’ve been doing this for
ing, Bradford County, the
Marie Dorion
do for each other,” Campbell, 40 years,” Miller said. “We’re competition began around
presented by
a former coach at Iowa State, here to make sure we’re as
dawn and lasted until well
Beverly White
said.
sharp as we can be for tomor- after noon. Florida took
Campbell set up the
row. Just like a football team. home the team title. Texas
ucmuseumoregon.com
freezer for the students but
We want to be a sharpened
Tech finished fourth be-
was also around to prepare
point tomorrow.”
hind Kansas State and the
Little White Church, 366 S. Main Street, Union
for Penn State’s weekly
Miller, sounding very much University of Illinois. Kansas
meat sale. Outside, a line of
like a coach, said it takes
customers was already wind- heart to be a champion meat
Some things in life just go together.
ing down the sidewalk. The
judge, along with work ethic.
Like home and auto insurance
Nittany Lions were playing
“You just can’t teach that,”
from State Farm . And you with
at Maryland that week, but
he said.
a good neighbor to help life go
if there were a home game,
In the meat locker, the Ga-
right. Save time and money.
Campbell said, the line would tors were mostly quiet, mov-
CALL ME TODAY.
be stretching for a quarter-
ing around a table of meat
mile.
with their clipboards and
“People camp here and will marking off a list with pen-
Gregg Hinrichsen Ins Agcy Inc
Gregg Hinrichsen, Agent
just take the steaks back to
cils. Some of the categories
1722 Campbell Street
Baker City, OR 97814
their RV and start grilling,”
were “rib number incorrect”
541-523-7778
1601976
he said.
and “length of cut.” Mendes
Home & Auto
go together.
Like you & a
good neighbor.
®
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, State Farm Indemnity Company, Bloomington, IL
State Farm County Mutual Insurance Company of Texas, Dallas, TX
State Farm Fire and Casualty Company, State Farm General Insurance Company, Bloomington, IL
State Farm Florida Insurance Company, Winter Haven, FL
State Farm Lloyds, Richardson, TX
M.J. Goss Motor Co. www.gossmotors.com
Quick, Friendly Service since 1922
1415 Adams Ave, La Grande 541
541-963-4161
963 4161
Home of