The Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association has dropped a teaser for big things ahead in the new year when it will launch a podcast series to shine a light on the interesting history and exciting opportunities of the meat industry.
The podcast, titled 'Chiller Room Secrets: the stories behind the Australian meat industry's quest for perfection', delves into the lives and careers of people working within the livestock and meat processing sector to find out why they believe it's such an exciting sector with a huge future.
Episode one of the series will be released in January 2021, but keen listeners can download an early taste test today and subscribe to the series so they don't miss out when the first full episode is released in January.
The ICMJ is a not-for-profit association which aims to provide an opportunity for students to learn and to build the pool of intelligent young meat industry representatives, fired with enthusiasm who will give the Australian meat industry the expertise and drive to compete in the meat quality world of the future.
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ICMJ president Dr Peter McGilchrist hopes the series exposes listeners to the many and varied career paths available.
"The industry members that are featured in the podcast series are excellent examples of passionate, creative, opportunistic, visionary, dedicated people that do or have worked in the red meat industry," he said.
"The red meat industry offers careers that can take you around the world and back again. From the back paddocks of rural Australia, to cutting edge laboratories, processing facilities and fine-dining restaurants on the other side of the world - the meat industry has it all."
The first podcast, to be released in January 2021, features one of the founding fathers of the meat judging movement in Australia, Jason Strong.
Now the Managing Director of Meat and Livestock Australia, Mr Strong's career has taken him all over the world and to work for some of Australia's largest meat businesses. He said it was his formative days working to develop meat judging and Meat Standards Australia that put him on that path.
"I left school thinking I wanted to be a grazier but a trip to the US with the National Angus Judging Competition introduced me to meat grading and judging. I came home thinking I wanted to be a meat grader only to be told there was no meat grading system in Australia," Mr Strong said.
"That was the catalyst for me to get on board with the people who were already working to start meat grading, MSA and ICMJ in Australia and that was the beginning of it all.
"From there we've seen some amazing things happen, for example the quality of the average supermarket steak in Australia these days is so high and so consistent - that's something we could have only dreamed of in those early days and is entirely thanks to the industry commitment to meat science and programs like MSA and ICMJ."
The podcast is hosted by former ABC Rural Reporter Amy McCosker who now works for CQUniversity, which co-hosts the ICMJ Northern Beef Conference.
ICMJ President Dr Peter McGilchrist says he believes Mr Strong's episode, and those of the other podcast guests including the likes of legendary meat scientist Professor Dave Pethick and Australian Country Choice's Paul Gibson, tell the human story behind the meat grading movement.
"The average consumer probably just eats their steak or their roast lamb and doesn't think much about it, but there is a long line of really dedicated people whose work underpins the quality of Australian meat," he said.
"There are some careers paths that have been forged through the red meat industry, and via an association with the ICMJ, and that alone makes the podcast important listening for anyone with an interest in red meat production, meat science, or even applied science more broadly.
"So many of the people who are featured later in the podcast series didn't mean to end up working in the meat industry but luckily took a chance and have had really exciting careers."
The teaser for 'Chiller Room Secrets: the stories behind the Australian meat industry's quest for perfection' is now available for free on Spotify - just type 'ICMJ' into the search bar.
More information is available at https://icmj.com.au/
