Contact Information:
970.491.6244
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John Scanga was born in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1974. He arrived at Colorado State University in the fall of 1992 and received his Bachelor’s Degree (Animal Science) in 1996, Master of Science Degree (Meat Science) in 1997 and completed his Ph.D. (Animal Science) in December of 1999.

While completing his Master’s Degree at CSU John studied several topics related to red meat safety and quality. Most notably, he established an extremely large database (over 2.6 million cattle) that included performance data and production records from several commercial feedyards. From this information he was able to make recommendations to the beef industry to help feeders reduce economic losses due to dark cutting beef. His dissertation researched focused on improving the tenderness of beef through both pre and postmortem interventions. This researched supported the use of postmortem marination treatments to improve beef tenderness and implicated the usefulness of these techniques in beef total quality and palatability management systems.

Immediately following the completion of his Ph.D., John joined the faculty at CSU in 1999, as an Assistant Professor and assumed the role of the Extension Meat Specialist. He also oversees the day-to-day operations of The Meat Plant, a federally inspected meat processing facility, and the Meat Science Teaching Laboratory. Joining the program in Meat Science at CSU, he will continue to research pertinent red meat safety and quality issues. Specifically, John is currently an investigator or co-investigator on research projects to: investigate the inactivation or inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in cooked pork products, evaluate the effects of consumer abuse on meat safety, develop real-time augmentation of USDA Yield Grades using instrument technologies, and develop a cost/benefit model demonstrating the economic benefits using video imaging technologies to sort beef carcasses into different fabrication styles. In addition to conducting research, John has reestablished and teaches the livestock harvest and fabrication course and represents Colorado State University on the Colorado Beef Quality Assurance Council; the group charged with developing and implementing a state wide Beef Quality Assurance Program.

Education:

Ph.D. 1999. Animal Sciences, Colorado State University

M.S. 1997. Animal Sciences, Colorado State University

B.S. 1996. Animal Sciences, Colorado State University