Advanced Meat Processing Training Now Available at Ridgewater
August 4, 2023
Expanded meat cutting training through Ridgewater College will better meet industry workforce needs across the country with a new Advanced Meat Processing Certificate recently approved to begin in spring 2024.
Ridgewater began offering an 18-credit Beginning Meat Cutting Certificate in 2022. Thanks to workforce need and interest, as well as U.S. Department of Education AgCentric grant support, Ridgewater is expanding its Meat Cutting program to also include a new 18-credit Advanced Meat Processing Certificate.
“We are very excited for the program to expand to the second of three planned certificates,” said Sophia Thommes, Ridgewater’s Meat Cutting instructor. “This will help with the nationwide need for butchers and meat cutters alike.” The third certificate will have an entrepreneurship focus and launch in the near future.
The seven Advanced Meat Processing courses will cover everything from livestock/carcass evaluation and advanced meat equipment to product curing, smoking, and record keeping.
Like the current Beginning Meat Cutting certificate, the unique delivery of the new certificate will be a hybridized format of both online and in-person lectures for about 20 hours a week, as well as live, hands-on laboratory experiences, similar to the traditional apprenticeship model for about 20 more hours per week under the expertise of a credentialed faculty member.
The Beginning Meat Cutting certificate is NOT a prerequisite for people already working in the industry with the foundational knowledge.
For more information, go to www.ridgewater.edu/meat-cutting.
