Search here

Subscribe
Twitter
Facebook
Archives
About Us
Advertise
Calendar
Contact
7,000 WEEKLY COPIES...
300 OUTLETS...
16 PAGE TAB
Learn More About The Corvallis Advocate
Picks of the Week
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. for Pub... http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0606-meet-your-osu-meat/
1 of 5 5/3/14, 3:02 PM
Post your event
Know of an event taking place in the Corvallis community? Please submit your listing via our
"Post Your Event" page.
Archives
Select Month
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to
5:30 p.m. for Public Sales
Posted: June 6th, 2013 ! Filled under: Feature ! 1 Comment
Know thy meat processor. Sounds like a good, solid commandment that more carnivores should
follow. For those who tend to enjoy the juicy, grilled burger but have an aversion to the
slaughterhouse, a visit to the Oregon State University Clark Meat Center might be in order.
The jolly meat center student workers; photo by
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. for Pub... http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0606-meet-your-osu-meat/
2 of 5 5/3/14, 3:02 PM
Bridget Egan.
Clark is not fancy. It sits in a gravel lot surrounded by more gravel. The sign outside the building is
sharpie on wood. Inside it is basic and hasnt seen a remodel in years, or ever. But it is small and quiet
and clean. So clean that it is a little surprising to nd out that heifer, steer, pigs and sheep are
slaughtered and processed here.
The all-student staff is full of grins, quick jokes and sincerity about their work, even when it involves
packing countless pounds of ground beef into little red wrappers.
Clark gets most of its animals through the Steer-a-Year program, where steer and occasionally heifers
are donated to students. The animals live in a feedlot tended by students who have one year to get
them to the ideal weight for processing. Students learn about antibiotics, tillage, feed and all other
things cattle. They typically put about 30 steers through the program in one year. After processing, the
donor buys back the meat with some sold to the general public. All proceeds support the program.
Throughout the process, students keep prodigious track of their cattle and learn many aspects of the
industry. The donors become connected to the students and get some feedback that may help their
operation.
They [donors] want to help out OSU, but they also want to get some feedback, says manager Nate
Parker. And were open to any praise or any criticism we get. We want to improve.
Parker, a graduate student in agriculture and rangeland sciences, is a guy who really enjoys talking
about anything and everything meat: safety standards, marbling, regulations and most of all,
cleanliness.
Senior Scott Delcurto and junior Nate Duyn;
photo by Bridget Egan.
He started at the center in 2008 as an undergrad doing cleanup. This is not an easy job in a facility that
slaughters 1200-pound animals. The experience taught him the importance of safety and cleanliness.
In one way, it is a typical lab job for a grad or undergrad. But these students have to make sure things
like Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (Mad Cow), transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. for Pub... http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0606-meet-your-osu-meat/
3 of 5 5/3/14, 3:02 PM
(scrapie) and E.coli dont make it into the meat. They have to handle and slaughter large animals
efciently and humanely.
Parker is a passionate spokesman for the educational experience.
Most people are not fully aware of the beef industry, slaughter and meat. They need to know. Its
important to let them know and make them informed consumers, Parker said.
Elizabeth Wong is one worker who has done just about everything at the meat center. She is a senior
animal science major who will be interviewing for jobs at meat processing plants in the coming
month. About working in the industry she said, I like the idea of providing a good, high quality
product to customers.
Nate walked me through the slaughter process, from chute to carcass room. He went through the
testing and regulations they submit to with encyclopedic precision. I was next to the pen where a steer
rolls after being stunned by a captive bolt blow to the skull before being hoisted to the exsanguination
area where it would lose its head, bleed out and nally die. As he was explaining how the process is
carried out, Nate looked across the room and stopped mid-sentence, Oh, theres a cobweb there. That
shouldnt be there.
I could not see it even when I walked over to the area. But I was glad he could.
The Clark Meat Center has many loyal customers and typically sell all kinds of meat products each
Friday from 1 to 5:30 p.m. Parker and another graduate student have been working on a project to
introduce charcuterie to the Beaver family. In the future, there may be a signature salami or prosciutto
to go with your Beaver Gold cheese.
Slaughter is a nasty business. But the students at Clark work in a learning environment and take the
utmost care with their job. Know your butcher; they should know their meat.
The Clark Meat Center is located on OSUs campus. For directions or
information, contact 541-737-1927 or osumeatcenterretailstore1-owner@lists.oregonstate.edu.
By Bridget Egan
Be Sociable, Share!
Previous article
Next article
One Comment
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. for Pub... http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0606-meet-your-osu-meat/
4 of 5 5/3/14, 3:02 PM
Nate Parker wrote:
June 6, 2013 at 12:41 pm
And just to be clear, the cobweb was eradicated post interview.
Thanks for giving us a chance to showcase what we do, and what were about Bridget; We
really enjoyed the article!
1.
2013 The Corvallis Advocate. Copyright notice 5/01/14
The Corvallis Advocate publisher@corvallisadvocate.com
Meet Your OSU Meat: Open Fridays from 1 to 5:30 p.m. for Pub... http://www.corvallisadvocate.com/2013/0606-meet-your-osu-meat/
5 of 5 5/3/14, 3:02 PM