ICMJ launches podcast series aimed at young people

The Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association (ICMJ) has launched a podcast aimed at attracting young people to enter the industry.

The not-for-profit organisation released the first episode of the podcast series, ‘Chiller Room Secrets: the stories behind the Australian meat industry’s quest for perfection’.

The series talks about the history and careers of people working within the livestock and meat processing sector.

The ICMJ said the aim of the project is to provide an opportunity for students to learn and to build the pool of intelligent young meat industry representatives.

The first episode features a conversation with MLA Managing Director Jason Strong and his experiences about getting into the industry.

ICMJ President Dr Peter McGilchrist said Strong’s story is the perfect starting point for the series.

“We wanted to kick off the podcast series with a bang and Jason’s personal story really tracks alongside the story of the development of the broader meat grading and judgment movement,” he said.

“He went on a tour of the US as a young man and decided he wanted to be a meat grader but [when he] came back to Australia he found out that system didn’t yet exist.

“It shows real tenacity that instead of giving up on that dream, he worked together with others to develop Meat Standards Australia (MSA) and the Australian ICMJ program, and now here we are in 2021 with these game-changing programs in place and so much of that is thanks to Jason and his contemporaries.”

Strong said he was delighted to be asked to contribute to the podcast, which has been posted on Spotify.

“ICMJ is a wonderful organisation, and so I was very happy to take part. My professional life has been committed to the red meat and livestock industry, and ICMJ really helped set the foundation for my career,” he said.

“As an industry, we must continue to be ambitious and strive to create and capture value through a unified supply chain, and programs such as MSA are a good example, last year delivering an additional $172m to the farm gate, achieving the highest ever national average MSA index with a record 3.8 million cattle MSA graded, nearly half of all cattle processed.”

MLA Managing Director Jason Strong

The podcast is hosted by former ABC Rural Reporter Amy McCosker, who now works for CQUniversity, co-hosting the ICMJ Northern Beef Conference.

Upcoming episodes will include interviews with meat scientist Professor Dave Pethick, Australian Country Choice’s Paul Gibson, American meat scientist Dr Tom Carr and MLA corporate chef Sam Burke.

Images supplied by ICMJ.