Center for Meat Safety & Quality
The CSU Center for Meat Safety & Quality Program actively conducts and publishes applied industry research addressing significant and timely issues related to the global competitiveness of red meats. We prioritize our research efforts in:
- Red meat safety
- Meat product quality
- Meat export
- Emerging international markets
We regularly collaborate with industry, and regulatory agencies to ensure our work benefits consumers worldwide.
Current Research Projects
Meat and Meat Product Safety
Pathogen Detection
We use classical and innovative approaches to monitor, identify, and characterize foodborne pathogens on meat and meat products.
Feedlot and Processing Plant Environment
Determine prevalence and characterize pathogenic bacteria in livestock animals, their production environments, and meat and agricultural processing facilities.
Antimicrobial Resistance
Utilize innovative approaches to understand the underpinnings of antimicrobial resistance in livestock production and meat processing.
Meat Quality
Quality Maintenance and Shelf-Life
Identify strategies to maintain the quality and enhance the shelf-life of meat and meat products.
Genetics and Nutrition on Meat Quality
Assess and characterize the role of genetics, nutrition, and production strategies on meat product quality, palatability, and shelf-life.
Consumer Palatability
Comprehensive evaluation of consumer perceptions on the palatability of meat and meat products.
More Collaborative Research Projects
- Food safety assistance for small meat and poultry processors through development and implementation of industry best practices
- Comparison of United States and European Union meat inspection and plant sanitation systems and regulations
- Development of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems for assurance of meat safety by packers and processors
- Identification of procedures and interventions to prevent contamination of beef products with prions of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
- Evaluation of chemical decontamination treatments for meat products against E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, and antibiotic resistant and susceptible
- Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Newport; Evaluation of the effectiveness of FreshCase® technology to extend the shelf-life of whole muscle pork, ground pork sausage, muscle beef and ground beef
- Use of a high throughput screening approach to identify novel chemical compounds that control foodborne pathogens and evaluation of these compounds to reduce pathogens in foods
- Development of USDA performance standards
- Nutrient database improvement research – analysis of collected rib and plate cuts, beef loin and round cuts, as well as quantifying the “aging response” for muscles of the beef round
- Comparison of beef carcass grade standards and application among the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Uruguay
- Direct and indirect contacts among livestock operations in Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico as potential transmitters of Foot and Mouth Disease
- Relationships of USDA camera-based quality grades to beef palatability attributes; Colorado beef quality assurance program.
Facilities
JBS Global Food Innovation Center
The JBSGFIC is home to a number of CMSQ programs including:
- Meat Safety Lab
- Where Food Comes From Market
- Ram Country Meats
Nutrien Agricultural Sciences Building
Our newest facility houses multiple laboratories and teaching facilities.
Outreach
Ram Country Meats
Our student run market offering quality meats and specialty items.
Meat Judging Team Catering Service
Our student run catering service offers service for 30 to 800+ people.
Beef Sticks for Backpacks
Colorado program supporting kids who face food insecurity.
Cattle and Carcass Training Center
Collaboration between industry, government, and Animal Sciences to benefit cattle industry system.
Industry Short-Courses
Collaborative Projects
The CMSQ team works with cattlemen, cattle feeders, meat packers, processors and retailers on issues related to foreign animal disease, meatborne pathogens, quality/palatability/shelf-life, value-determining characteristics, export-market access, traceability and meat-waste disposal. Our industry and government collaborations include:
- National Pork Board, National Meat Association
- National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
- AMS-USDA
- Southwest Meat Association
- American Meat Science Association
- National Institute for Animal Agriculture
- American Association of Meat Processors
- National Renderers Association
- APHIS-USDA, FSIS-USDA
- U.S. Meat Export Federation
- FDA-USDHHS and American Meat Institute
Leaders and Advisors in National Food Safety
Our team is active in several food safety advisory roles:
- Food Safety Communicators for the Institute of Food Technologists
- IFT Extension Division leadership
- National Good Agricultural Practices Program
- Produce Safety Alliance Collaborators
- Colorado School of Public Health adjunct faculty
- Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
- National Centers for Excellence in Food Safety
- Colorado Food Systems Advisory Council board members
International Communicators
We’ve shared our research and expertise in meat safety and food borne pathogens to producers worldwide. We have visited over 20 countries as members of U.S. trade Teams, including:
- Argentina
- Uruguay
- Brazil
- Europe
- Russia
- Egypt
- Vietnam
- Japan, South Korea
- Mexico
- Taiwan
- China
Innovative Technology Development
Our team developed a testing protocol demonstrating safety (freedom from central nervous system tissue) of U.S. beef relative to Specified Risk Material removal in U.S. beef packing plants is used throughout the world.
Our Industry Partners and Collaborators
Our primary goal is to assure that consumers have access to a dependable supply of safe and high quality meat and other food products. We partner with a number of leading companies and organizations to meet our primary goal
American Meat Institute | American Sheep Industry Association | Cargill, Inc. | JBS| Harris Ranch Beef Company | North American Meat Association | National Beef | National Cattlemen’s Beef Association | Nolan Ryan’s Beef | Pork Checkoff | National Pork Producers Council |Tyson Foods, Inc.
CMSQ Team
Keith E. Belk, Ph.D.
Professor, Animal Sciences Department Head
Chair of Center for Meat Safety & Quality
Email: keith.belk@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-5826
Research Interests: Red Meat Quality and Safety, Live Animal Development, International Marketing of Red Meats, Quality Management Systems
Robert Delmore, Ph.D.
Professor
Email: robert.delmore@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-7093
Research Interests: Food Safety, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Systems
Lynn Delmore, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor
Email: delmoreconsulting@gmail.com
Research Interests: Food Safety, Meat Processing; Animal Welfare, Beef Slaughter Microbial Intervention Techniques
Lily Edwards-Callaway, Ph.D.
Temple Grandin, Ph.D.
Professor
Email: cheryl.miller@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-0243
Research Interests: Livestock Equipment Design, Animal Behavior; Handling and Welfare
Gina Geornaras, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Email: gina.geornaras@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-7128
Research Interests: Food Safety, Food Quality
Brenna Guimaraes
Instructor, Meat Judging Coordinator, and Culinary Kitchen Manager
Email: brenna.guimaraes@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-6780
Kyle Harrington
Hua Yang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Email: hua.yang@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-8272
Research Interests: Food Microbiology, Microbial Food Safety
Jennifer Martin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Email: jennifer.martin@colostate.edu
Voice: (970) 491-8381
Research Interests: Systems-based approach to Meat Safety & Quality
Jessica Metcalf, Ph.D.
Mahesh N. Nair, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Center for Meat Safety and Quality
Voice: (970) 491-5622
Email: mnair@colostate.edu
Research Interests: Meat quality and safety, meat color, nutritional quality, quality management systems.
Jessica Prenni, Ph.D.