BEDFORD, Pa. — Beef and veal have been popular this past year within middle and high school culinary classrooms across the state. For its ninth year, the Pennsylvania Beef Council (PBC) with support from Formula 1 Feeds, Catelli Brothers, and Marcho Veal provided beef and veal grants to Family and Consumer Science educators during the 2020-2021 school year with over 1,600 students benefitting from the grant program. Educators participating in the program were creative in executing their lessons, as many continued to face restrictions and disruptions surrounding the pandemic.

Sara Zabrowski, educator at Damascus Area School in Damascus, PA commented, “My students really enjoyed learning about how beef gets from farm to table. Many of my students live on farms and can directly relate the information learned to their own lives. Most of my students never cooked with beef on their own before so it was a great learning experience. They now know how to safely handle and cook Ground Beef. Students learned how versatile Ground Beef can be. My classes made a variety of recipes including: Tacos, Walking Tacos, Nachos, Meatloaf, and Chili. Many of my students expressed how they wanted to make the recipes that we made in class for their families. This program provides my students with opportunities that they would not have otherwise. We can cover a variety of topics and learn skills that students will use throughout their lives.” This testimony speaks volumes to the impact the program has within our state.

The PBC is launching the Beef & Veal in the Classroom program for the upcoming 2021-2022 school year. Each year, Family and Consumer Science classrooms are selected to participate in the Beef & Veal in the Classroom program. Teachers are either offered reimbursement for beef purchases of veal product delivered to their school for in-classroom lessons. For more information about the 2021-2022 grant program, please visit the PA Beef Council’s website.

To view more photos from the program’s activities, visit the PA Beef Council Facebook page.

Media Contact: Kaitlyn Swope, kswope@pabeef.org; 814-623-2698

The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States may retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. Internal links within this document are funded and maintained by the Beef Checkoff.  All other outgoing links are to websites maintained by third parties.  

–Beef Checkoff Program