Iowa State University's Meats Lab partnered with the state's livestock farmers to provide ground beef and pork to food-insecure Iowa families.
The Meats Laboratory at Iowa State University (ISU) has always been a place where helping to feed the world through animal protein has been front and center. But in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the country, the ISU Meats Lab also played a vital role in keeping food on the tables of the most vulnerable Iowans.

Partnering with the Iowa Depart­ment of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS), livestock farmers and food banks across Iowa, the Meats Laboratory became a conduit between farmers who couldn’t get their livestock processed due to packing plant shutdowns and those most...