The Livestock and Meat Commission (LMC) has organised interactive red meat workshops for teachers in Northern Ireland, helping them to develop their cooking skills.
The series of workshops were organised by LMC and delivered in association with the British Nutrition Foundation to help develop teachers' skills and confidence when working with Northern Ireland Farm Quality Assured (NIFQA) beef and lamb.
Sarah Toland, LMC education and consumer promotions manager, commented: "Over the past few months the LMC team have delivered workshops in Magherafelt, Belfast and Dungannon. Bookings for the workshops filled up in record time, demonstrating in a very practical sense teachers' enthusiasm to secure a place and develop their skills in preparing and cooking red meat."
In the lead up to the workshops LMC worked closely with the British Nutrition Foundation to ensure workshop content was carefully tailored to align with current post-primary teaching specifications.
Toland said: "Each workshop, while practical in nature also provided a theoretical base of knowledge which complemented the learning outcomes for post-primary pupils.
"Topics covered at the workshops included how beef and lamb fit into a healthy diet and the important role the NIFQA Scheme plays in producing traceable, sustainable, world class beef and lamb."
Frances Meek, British Nutrition Foundation education services manager, added: "We were pleased to be invited to support LMC in the delivery of red meat skills workshops. Ensuring teachers are confident and competent in practical food skills is key to delivering practical cookery classes in schools.
"The workshops allowed teachers to creatively explore how to prepare, cook and present a number of beef and lamb recipes, including lamb curry and beef burgers. Information was also shared on the contribution red meat can make to a healthy, balanced diet."
Teachers enthusiastic about workshops
LMC reported that teacher feedback on the workshops had been "pleasing". One teacher who attended said: "The workshops provided a great opportunity to meet other HE teachers, share ideas and get information about the invaluable resources that are available."
Toland concluded: "Provision of red meat workshops complement our comprehensive post primary education programme. They provide a basis for knowledge transfer and enable us to support Food and Nutrition teachers in a practical way, while encouraging them to use and promote NIFQA beef and lamb in the classroom."
LMC said that is was working with the British Nutrition Foundation to plan and develop new content and recipes for a second series of red meat skills teacher workshops, which are planned for delivery during the latter part of this year.
This story was originally published on a previous version of the Meat Management website and so there may be some missing images and formatting issues.
