Careers in Meat Science

The Study of Meat

To become a meat scientist, you will study biology, physiology, and animal nutrition and the impact on meat quality.  Your study will involve:

• • Life-cycle production and management across multiple species
  • Live animal, carcass, and genetic assessment
  • Cellular effects on animal growth and development
  • Meat processing and branded meat products
  • Critical factors influencing animal care and welfare
  • Production of high-value, high-quality, fresh, and  processed food
  • Relationships between on-farm, packing, and retail segments of food animal production

There are currently more jobs in the meats industry then there are people to fill them, so many recent alumni find themselves in management positions within a relatively short period of time.

At UNE, Meat Science graduates are highly sought after by industry to fill science and industry positions. A proportion of graduates have gone onto postgraduate studies and ultimately secured positions in research organisations both within Australia and overseas. The Meat Science group has very good industry contacts and generally have a number of industry scholarships and traineeships being offered. In the past few years we have had the situation where trainee positions have outnumbered suitable students.

This unit covers all aspects of meat processing: meat safety; carcass grading; meat preservation, storage, packaging and transport; secondary processing and smallgoods production; cooking and value adding. Beef, lamb, pork, poultry and other species are covered. Available as a postgraduate unit. Students enrolled in MEAT518 will have to complete the requirements for MEAT418 and complete additional guided reading/practical work appropriate to the needs of individual students.