Iowa State Marks 30 Years of Meat Processing Education

Editor's note: Media are invited to attend any session of the Sausage and Processed Meats Short Course including Wurstfest. Preregister with Matt Wenger (515) 294-9279, mwenger@iastate.edu. More information and photos are available online. AMES, Iowa "“ Iowa State University will be offering its 30th Annual Sausage and Processed Meats Short Course at the ISU Meat Laboratory on July 14-18, 2008. Iowa State University Extension offers the course to meat processing professionals from around the world interested in learning the latest technology in sausage and meat processing. Plant managers, chefs and research and development technicians in the meat processing industry are among the participants. Animal science professor Joe Cordray has been leading the course since 1995. "The course always fills early. This year 70 participants from four countries and 19 U.S. states are expected," Cordray said. "As is tradition, we'll host a "Wurstfest" on July 17 where the wide variety of sausages and processed meats manufactured throughout the week will be displayed and sampled." To commemorate the course's 30th anniversary former graduate students are invited to return to campus to manufacture products for the Wurstfest and former instructors will be recognized. Klaus Kreibig, the course's "wurstmacher" or sausage maker, has traveled from Germany to assist in teaching the course for more than 20 years. Kreibig arrives the week prior to the session to create a variety of Old World style sausage. This year Kreibig and participants are expected to make more than 80 different types of processed meats including sausages, pates and aspics. "Participants gain hands-on experience with the state-of-the-art processing equipment in the ISU Meat Laboratory such as stuffers, skinners, injectors, grinders and emulsifiers," Cordray said. "And often companies ship in specialized equipment just for use in the short course." ISU animal science professor emeritus Robert (Bob) Rust initiated the first meat sausage and processed meats short course in 1979 with the encouragement of Hans Schneider, a master butcher from Germany, who had heard about the newly built ISU Meat Laboratory. Schneider assisted Rust in teaching 40 participants from around the country as they designed and manufactured 24 products. -30-