The UC Davis Meat Lab is a federally inspected meat processing plant located on the UC Davis campus in the Harold Cole Facility for the Study of Biology of Large Animals. The Meat Lab is part of the Department of Animal Science and is used for teaching and research activities. It is a 5000-square-foot facility containing a multi-species kill floor, carcass coolers, processing room, cutting room, analytical lab, classroom, and freezers.
Staff and Students:
The Meat Lab is run by
Caleb Sehnert, who performs the daily functions of the Meat Lab along with teaching duties. There is one student employee responsible for plant sanitation. Students receive hands-on training in slaughter, fabrication, sanitation, and further processing of meat and meat products while they are enrolled in Animal Science 49 and internship programs at the Meat Lab. During most quarters there are approximately
20 students working in those classes.
Many researchers in the Department of Animal Science as well as other departments on campus use the facility for their research. Sample collections are performed at the Meat Lab on projects in the fields of Animal Science, Food Science, Reproductive Physiology, Endocrinology, Molecular Biology, Nutrition, Veterinary Medicine, Entomology, and Microbiology to name a few. Some of the types of samples collected at the Meat Lab range from whole carcasses to blood for mosquito food.
- Animal Science classes with labs taught at the Meat Lab: ANS 1, ANS 2, ANS 21, ANS 22, ANS 120 and ANS 145.
- Animal Science classes taught at the Meat Lab: ANS 49, ANS 92, and ANS 192.
Classes from other Departments that use the Meat Lab: FST 108
Production and Sales:
Annual production level is approximately 600-800 total head of all four red meat species, which includes beef, hogs, sheep and goats. The Meat Lab also processes carcasses into extra-lean ground beef, homemade pork sausage, and other retail meat products. Custom-cut and wrapped-Beef, hog and lamb carcasses can be ordered from the Meat Lab.
The Meat Lab is located on the south edge of the UC Davis Loop in the Harold Cole Facility Building "C", directly south of Meyer Hall across La Rue Road. Entrance to the lab is from the southeast end near the loading dock