A meeting room at the Certified Angus Beef ® Education & Culinary Center, Wooster, Ohio, was dedicated to Dr. Bobby D. VanStavern in 2012. The room features pictures of VanStavern dating back to when he was a meat extension specialist for The Ohio State University in the 1960s. In this role, he regularly visited with Ohio meat packers, retailers and restaurateurs and realized had one thing in common: all wanted more consistent, high quality beef. VanStavern heard their concerns and started outlining beef quality factors based on research to meet their needs. Opportunity came knocking in 1978, when Mick Colvin arrived at VanStavern’s office door. Colvin was working with Angus cattle ranchers through the American Angus Association® to start a beef brand with science-based specifications ensuring consistently superior quality. VanStavern shared his insight with Colvin, leading to the strict quality parameters for the Certified Angus Beef ® brand. For 25 years, VanStavern served as a consultant to Colvin and the staff as sales grew across the U.S. and then internationally to 45 other countries. The specifications VanStavern created are essentially the same today, though evaluated in more refined ways in modern facilities, to annually bring more than 800 million pounds of Certified Angus Beef ® brand products to market. The brand’s Education & Culinary Center provides an avenue for sharing VanStavern’s “Science Behind the Sizzle” with meat company executives, distributors, retailers, chefs, media and bloggers, who come to the center’s meat lab and kitchen to fully understand beef quality and how to help customers and consumers bring their best to the table.
