PSVII-27 The re-establishment of a competitive Meat Judging team at Auburn University: strategies and challenges.

Abstract Meat product evaluation, or Meat Judging, is an opportunity for students to gain experiential knowledge in the animal and meat industries with the added incentive of competition with other schools across the United States. Judging is a gateway to the meat industry, exposing the students to potential career paths and letting them meet and network with the professionals that can help them along the way. The students participating in this program are the future of safe, high-quality protein production, and we have a responsibility to prepare them effectively. Specific skills students gain from judging programs include critical thinking, decision making, technical writing, and the ability to enter a meat plant with confidence. Meat Judging programs are a key focus of meat science training at universities across the country. However, until 2025, Auburn University had not trained a team in over 20 years. While many of our alumni have been successful in the industry despite this, it has been highlighted as a need for our students, from stakeholders and the students themselves. The re-establishment of a team after this length of time has come with many challenges; the objective of this presentation is to share the strategies we used in this undertaking, with focus on the obstacles and solutions identified along the way. We hope that in sharing this experience we will demonstrate the feasibility of this task, encouraging other schools to build judging programs as well. The steps to rebuild the team at Auburn were first, to create a course where students can be trained in judging for credits; second, to recruit students to participate in this course; third, to take students on a trip to a competition to demonstrate the commitment; and fourth, to compete in national competitions. Our goal was to create a course, offered in Fall 2024, from which we would source a competitive 4-person judging team for the calendar year of 2025. Through various methods, including meeting with students one-on-one, recruiting from introductory courses, and attending club meetings. Our recruiting goal was 6 students and our efforts resulted in 14 students attending the class meetings. The fall trip was a high point of the class, with 9 students attending and traveling to West Texas for the experience. Of these, 7 students then committed to the 2025 competitive team. We participated in two competitions during Spring 2025 to some success, and plan on participating in three in Fall 2025. With the current team, it indicates a 50% retention of total students, and 78% retention of those from the Texas trip. Overall, we have been successful in the revival of this judging team and believe we have built a program with momentum to establish a continuing program.