By Brenna Kelly | Staff Writer

The Arkansas State University Meat Market not only provides shoppers with meat, but also provides funding for the College of Agriculture and gives students experience working in meat processing.  

Corey Readnour, an A-State alumnus who specializes in all kinds of pork products, helps teach students in the College of Agriculture in the Meat Laboratory.

“When I was a student, I actually worked in the Meat Lab as a student worker, so I always had that passion,” Readnour said, “Before that, I worked at the university farm. When we went under state inspection, I had the opportunity to renovate the Meat Market and switch roles.”

Readnour obtained his bachelors and masters from A-State, graduating in 2017 and becoming the manager of the Meat Lab in 2018.

This semester, the Meat Laboratory is an elective class with 13 students, where students walk through the stages of meat processing, going from farm to table. Students learn retail cuts, food safety, muscle biology, different recipes and the science side of the butchery process.

“There’s all kinds of different components to it, it’s not just processing meat, but it’s also food safety, ” Readnour said. “You always have to think about the product integrity. In the end, our goal is to produce a humane, safe product for the consumer that also tastes good.”

At the Judd Hill Farmers Market, the A-State Meat Market sells a variety of beef and pork products, as well as jerky and snack sticks. According to Readnour, their specialty is bratwurst.

The funds raised from the Meat Market go back into the College of Agriculture. 

“Our first priority is education. Education is where it all starts,” Readnour said.

Corbin Harrison, a junior animal science major from South Africa, and Dylan Grant, a junior business major from Zimbabwe, work at the Meat Market. 

“It’s a job opportunity. We make the actual products. We use a lab with machines that basically do everything from scratch,” Harrison said. 

Readnour, Harrison and Grant all agree that the Meat Market is a program that A-State can be proud of.

“One of our biggest things is that we went through the whole process and documentation of the State Inspection of Arkansas. We are Plant 001, so when we process an animal and they inspect it, they stamp the process with a state of Arkansas Inspection Stamp that says 001. It’s really cool and it’s something that we are proud of as a Meat Market,” Readnour said.

The Meat Market also recently obtained a partnership with Peco Foods, a poultry processing facility that operates out of Pochahontas, Arkansas.

In this partnership, poultry would be processed in the Peco Foods laboratory and then shipped back to A-State’s laboratory for experimentation, whether it be different seasonings, cuts, or casings. Those new products would then be sold.

This way, the Meat Lab can focus on inclusivity, as pork is not something everyone can eat. 

While the Meat Market is open most days, selling at the Judd Hill Farmers Market, sales are advertised on their Facebook page and the A-State Daily Digest. The program also does many different events to showcase products, including some consumer panels and taste tests.

Categories: Life