Scotch Beef Club gives students a ‘taste’ of the Scottish Meat Industry

Hearing from industry experts is a great way to enhance the learning of students, giving them a real-life experience of the job and what a future career may look like.

Through an online meeting, Borders College level 5 & 6 Hospitality students recently had the pleasure of meeting Quality Meat Scotland Brand Development Manager Gordon Newlands, who delivered a very interesting talk on supporting and promoting Scotch Beef and the Scotch Beef Club.

As a world-renowned top quality brand, Scotch Beef is as good as it gets and the students were more than keen to hear Gordon talk, in-depth, about his role in the industry and the product they deliver to their customers.

They learned how Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) is coping with Brexit and is helping the Scottish red meat sector improve its efficiency and profitability, helping to contribute to Scotland’s economy.

They also listened to Gordon talk about the animal labelling scheme, where farmers have to abide by the law when selling and supplying fresh or frozen meats. A Q&A session allowed the students to put forward their questions at the end.

Going forward, an exciting competition will take place at the end of February for all the students in Level 6 Hospitality. The participants will be given a mystery box of ingredients (meat and veg), donated by QMS, and they will be tasked with coming up with the best dish using these products, helping savour their aptitude for cooking.

Gordon also kindly offered to donate a set of butchery kitchen knives as 1st prize, worth £150 – a great gesture and an incentive for the students to deliver their best results.

Dr Jane McKenzie, Curriculum Learning Manager for Business and the Visitor Economy, commented:

“This support from Quality Meat Scotland is just what the students need during lockdown – a chance to develop their culinary creativity and compete for a fabulous prize.“

Maybe you’re a budding chef in the making, or maybe you would like to be part of an exciting competition like this? If so, click here for a list of the exciting Hospitality courses on offer at Borders College.