Members of the UW-Madison community got their first look inside the university’s Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discover Building on Monday, as the Wisconsin State Journal shared a filmed tour of the MSABD. The UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) figuratively opened the doors to the facility on Nov. 6.
A virtual celebration on the MSABD website, as well as #MeatOurNewBuilding social media campaigns in early November, marked the grand opening.
The building will serve as the new home for the Meat Science and Animal Biologics program at the university, hosting classrooms and labs for research in those specific fields. The building is a product of $57.1 million in investments and a number of partnerships with members of the meat industry. The modern, high-tech facility was a project that spanned seven years — the outcome being a new feature unique to the university.
“We plan to set the standard for how to conduct research on food safety and animal biologics among our peers,” said Steven Ricke, Faculty Director of the Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery Program.
Not only will the new building allow for faculty and students to create new products with the Master Meat-Crafter Program, but will also make space to develop new technologies and solve problems that outside organizations bring to the university.
“This facility is so much more than a building. It’s an ecosystem for collaboration that’s going to bring together researchers from many different fields,” Chancellor Rebecca Blank said. “Our students will be taught in some of the most unique classrooms on campus, built around a chilled demonstration space.”
The building is innovative not just in its existence, but in its design. According to Associate Professor Jeff Sindelar, who led the filmed tour of the building, the MSABD design is the “latest and greatest of any meat plant in the country, and probably the world.”
The building features classrooms and labs designed with the intent of education, research and demonstration. It also contains a Biosafety Level 2 processing facility, which gives scientists the ability to test new pathogen control measures directly on animal carcasses during processing. Within the building are two lecture halls, both of which look into a glass-sealed and chilled presentation room.
“From behind the large, insulated glass windows of this space, instructors can demonstrate important concepts to students while the meat products they’re referring to are kept in the appropriate temperature,” Ricke said.
Possibly the most unique feature of the building is Bucky’s Varsity Meats, a store featuring meat products made and processed in the MSABD facility, as well as other products from across Wisconsin. UW is the first university to open a storefront like this, which will afford Meat Science and Animal Biologic students the chance to sell their meat products. The store will be staffed byUW students.
“We link the incredible scientific activities in this building with our community,” Bucky’s Varsity Meats Retail Manager Mitch Monson said. “This facility enables us to produce and sell anything we can imagine to support Wisconsin communities and our customers.”
CALS first announced the building project in August 2012. Construction began four years later in October 2016, marked by a ceremonial ham salting.
Though the building launched amid the Coronavirus pandemic, which prevented an in-person celebration, a virtual celebration took place featuring remarks from Blank, Ricke, Gov. Tony Evers, CALS Dean Kate VandenBosch, Secretary Designee of the Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection Randy Romanski and State Senator Howard Marklein.
The virtual celebration features related news headlines, a “Meaty Beats” Spotify playlist, tweets and a virtual order site for Bucky’s Varsity Meats curbside pickup. Photos of the building and videos of “people new to the program” are available on the website as well. Corporate and individual building donors are listed and thanked on the celebratory webpage.
“The research, learning, and innovation that will happen here at the Meat Science and Animal Biologics Discovery Building will benefit students, consumers and Wisconsin’s agriculture industry now and into the future,” Evers said in his video.
