EAST LANSING, Mich. — Michigan State University is serving its own beef on campus this fall.

Earlier this year, researchers from the MSU Department of Animal Science and extension partnered with MSU Culinary Services, a department of MSU Residential and Hospitality Services, to bring beef produced on MSU farms to restaurants and cafeterias on campus.

Animal science professor and extension beef specialist Jason Rowntree is leading the effort. He said the goal is to develop a model that can be replicated throughout the state, in which institutions – such as universities, restaurants and hotels – can serve locally raised meat from small- and medium-scale livestock producers to their customers.

“Most consumer surveys indicate that local is important,” Rowntree said.

“More specifically, consumers want to know where their food is coming from.”

In addition to fulfilling consumer demand, a successful program could help producers and food processors enter new markets and potentially lower food costs.

Late in the summer, about a dozen head of beef from the MSU Purebred Beef Cow-Calf Teaching and Research Center and the MSU Beef Cattle Research and Teaching Center were shipped to Ebels General Store in Falmouth, Mich., where they were slaughtered. From there, the carcasses were taken to Byron Center Meats in Byron Center, Mich., to be cut and packaged.

Sysco-Grand Rapids, one of MSU’s food service product suppliers, delivered the finished product to MSU to be served on campus this fall. Rowntree said one of the challenges on campus is that Culinary Services uses a high volume of very specific cuts of meat in order to prepare the same meal across a variety of venues.

“There’s a huge consistency issue,” he said. “We had a neat educational experience where we worked with the chefs on substituting different cuts of meat for one of their flank steak recipes. Perhaps we can gain cost savings by the chefs using a greater percentage of the entire carcass.”

Successfully substituting different cuts of meat could drastically increase the percentage of cuts the chefs use from the carcass. MSU purchases approximately 200,000 pounds of beef per year, primarily in the form of ground or meat patties, and it would take more than 5,300 beef cattle to supply the amount of flank steak Culinary Services uses annually.

“I’d like to use this as a beginning point to see if we can get more producers with cattle involved. The key is the opportunity – hopefully long-term – that we can keep more percentage of the farm gate in the community,” Rowntree said.

“The challenge and value is in linking the local food to the consumer with a consistent supply that keeps the wholesale and retail counters moving. If we can identify and bring that system to life, it is our hope that we will have a value-added product – a local, traceable product that is in high demand.”