MOSCOW, Idaho — The University of Idaho opened a new meat science innovation center that gives students more room for classes and expands research and production.
The university said the older building used for Vandal Brand Meats had become outdated and that the new site is one of the few USDA-inspected locations where ranchers in North Idaho can process their beef.
The building was reportedly named for the late Ron Richard. The university said he managed Vandal Brand Meats and helped grow sales to more than $300,000 a year.
Phil Bass, an associate professor in University of Idaho’s Department of Animal, Veterinary and Food Sciences, said the old setup created daily space problems.
“Yeah so in the old facility we had a slaughter room and a processing room and that was it, so sometimes if we were slaughtering we would have to move equipment from there into the processing room so we had enough room, and then vice versa. If we were going to be making Vandal Dogs, we would have to move a whole bunch of equipment into the slaughter room so we couldn’t slaughter and process at the same time,” Bass said. “If we had a class going on in the processing room a lot of that equipment would go out to slaughter and again not have enough space to do what we needed to do and the new facility allows for that.”