With more than 900 attendees, 81 speakers, 39 sessions, and a few days of successful networking, we are delighted to announce that the American Meat Science Association’s (AMSA) 75th Reciprocal Meat Conference (RMC) was a tremendous success. A special thank you goes to our co-hosts for the 75th RMC — Iowa State University, Kemin Food Technologies, the National Pork Board, and Hormel Foods Corp. — for their tremendous support and planning. RMC was well attended by more than 300 energetic and engaged students from all over the country. These students had a fantastic time showing off their cooking skills, their knowledge of processed meat, how fast they can buzz in during quiz bowl, and how many kills and homeruns they could hit. We had a wonderful few days in Des Moines, Iowa, and are excited to highlight the events in which students were able to participate!
On Saturday, June 11, we kicked off the AMSA RMC at the Des Moines Area Community College where more than 90 students made their visions a reality at the Iron Chef Contest, sponsored by Cargill. At the Iowa Culinary Institute, they were provided Top Blade steaks and were instructed on how to best fabricate them for the competition. In addition, they were instructed to include a starch, vegetable, and sauce with their meat to create the perfect plate. Students were given a gift card to a local grocery store, Hy-Vee, and were able to shop for exactly what they wanted.