Missoula County Public Schools served ground beef processed at their Agricultural Center meat processing lab for the first time ever.
MCPS' nine elementary schools, three middle schools, and Big Sky High School were served tacos with beef sourced from cattle raised on local farms and processed by students.
Some of the steers come from local ranchers, while others are purchased from the Missoula and Ravalli county fairs.
Starting last spring, Ag Center students have been utilizing a 100-acre farm, as well as classroom and lab spaces to learn the entire process that led to the school lunchroom today.
“This is truly school to farm to school,” said Stacey Rossmiller, the MCPS Food Service Supervisor. “The kids are learning about the raising the cattle, slaughter, processing, the whole nine yards, and it’s coming back into our program,. So it’s groundbreaking, and it’s very exciting to see.”
Rossmiller says they hope to have another school to farm to school lunch day later this fall.
