TRAINING OKLAHOMA MEAT PROCESSORS

This proposal's overall goal is to leverage Oklahoma State University's (OSU) existing relations with two-year colleges and meat industry partners to prepare the next generation of the meat industry workforce. To accomplish this goal, each year 20 students (at least half will be Tribal students) for three years will receive a six-week long hands-on meat processing training in federally inspected meat processing facilities located in OSU and the Osage Nation. The specific objectives of the proposed program are to 1). Recruit a cohort of sixty students (half of them from underrepresented groups) over three years to be trained in the summer meat processing hands-on preparation. 2) Develop a hands-on training program to prepare the participants for a successful career in the meat industry. 3) Conduct a six-week long internship for participants