Standing in the middle of a Nebraska feedyard, with the scent of silage in the air and cattle quietly milling nearby, registered dietitian Rachel McClurg realized how different real-world beef production actually was from what she’d always read in mainstream media.
“Listening to the individuals who run the feedyard, you quickly understand these are real people and real families caring for our food,” she says. “They care about the cattle as much as most people care about their pets, and they feed the same beef to their family that they feed to us.”
McClurg’s “aha moment” came during Nutrition Adventure, an immersive two-day educational event hosted by the Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri beef councils and designed to give nutrition professionals a firsthand look at beef’s pasture to plate story. Twenty-five registered dietitians from 15 states gathered in the greater Lincoln, Neb., area May 20-21 for the checkoff-funded program and received practical, science-based information about beef’s nutritional profile and culinary versatility they can share with their patients or clients.
Kansas Beef Council (KBC) Director of Nutrition Abby Heidari says that since its inception more than a decade ago, Nutrition Adventure has focused on human nutrition research and resourceful preparation techniques, but this year an emphasis was placed on beef production.
“While most dietitians are well-informed about food and how it interacts inside the body to impact health, they rarely get undergraduate or post-graduate education about farm-to-table food production,” she says. “But they really need that information because a lot of today’s food labels have to do with the production process, not necessarily the nutritional value, and they regularly get questions about how foods are produced.
“We want them to leave this program feeling empowered to have those conversations with their clients when they are recommending lean beef in a balanced diet.”
Nutrition Adventure is hosted every other year, and selected participants have a broad reach in their respective networks, whether it’s other healthcare professionals or a large group of consumers. They also represent a wide range of nutrition specialties, including social media influencers, sports dietitians, private practitioners, university dining services and public health positions.
Despite the diversity in the group, the common bond is often a lack of knowledge about the beef industry. In fact, Heidari said in a pre-event survey, 95% of this year’s attendees reported having zero background in agriculture.
Connecting the Dots
“There are a lot of misconceptions about how cattle are raised, and it’s important for these nutrition professionals to see the beef lifecycle from start to finish,” she says. “They are highly educated, knowledgeable individuals, but they’re often far removed from how food is produced. Giving them a firsthand look at each step – from ranch to feedyard to processor – helps connect the dots on animal care, sustainability and how beef truly makes its way to the plate.”
To better understand the beef supply chain, participants visited a seedstock producer, a cow-calf operation, a feedyard, the Klosterman Feedlot Innovation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and the Cargill processing plant in Schuyler, Neb., which post-event survey results indicated was a highlight of the program.
“Many participants said it was their favorite stop, and seeing the logistics, precision and skilled labor inside a large-scale facility really opened their eyes,” Heidari says. “It challenged a lot of preconceived notions about processing, and several noted how impressed they were by the care shown not only for the animals, but for the people working there. It’s something more dietitians need to see to confidently and accurately explain food production to their clients.”
The program also included a culinary experience at Sysco, where attendees explored value-based cuts like the Denver steak and chuck eye and participated in a multi-sensory tasting session. Heidari and her fellow state beef council nutrition directors Mitch Rippe from Nebraska and Sheri Glazier from Oklahoma presented a “Fueling with Flavor: The Power of Beef Nutrition” session that covered key topics like beef’s unique nutrient profile, making sense of the different food labels in the meat case and how the right cooking methods can elevate taste and nutrition.
“We break all things beef nutrition, cuts and cookery down into bite-sized pieces that these health professionals can use and translate to their respective audiences,” Glazier says. “As both a registered dietitian and agriculture producer, I see how important it is that we make those connections, especially around how beef’s unique nutrient profile ties back to the way it’s raised and prepared. This session always sparks great discussion and myth busting, but it’s those light bulb moments that really show we’ve created a safe learning environment.”
The event wrapped up with a panel of beef experts, including veterinarians and feedyard owners Ryan and June Loseke, UNL’s Jessica Sperber, cow-calf producer Justin Heldt and Cargill representatives.
“Participants had a chance to ask follow-up questions, especially on hot-button topics like antibiotics, hormone use and animal welfare, and no question was off-limits because we wanted that transparency to help build trust,” Heidari says. “Dietitians left with credible, real-world answers they can confidently share with their clients.”
Improving Perception
Pre- and post-event surveys revealed a significant shift in participants’ perceptions of beef and cattle production. Before the program, only 62% of attendees felt strongly positive about beef, compared to 86% afterward, with the remainder feeling somewhat positive and not a single participant reporting neutral or negative feelings after the event.
Heidari says cattle production knowledge also increased dramatically. Just one in 20 attendees initially reported having extensive knowledge, but after the program, that number jumped to more than three-quarters. Everyone else reported at least some knowledge, with no one feeling uninformed.
“These results clearly demonstrate the program’s impact in building trust and confidence among nutrition professionals,” she says.
While McClurg, who works as a dining services culinary operations manager at Kansas State University, was one of the few who expressed some pre-event knowledge of beef production, she participated in Nutrition Adventure to help her clients make more informed food choices.
In addition to her university role, McClurg also works as a registered dietitian for a telehealth company and sees a handful of patients on weekends. She says the information shared during the event was especially relevant for her clientele, many of whom are adults seeking general nutrition guidance.
“I grew up in Kansas eating red meat regularly, and I wanted to be able to relay to patients that enjoying red meat doesn’t mean you’re eating unhealthy,” she says. “In Kansas, beef is one of the most prominently available protein sources. It’s not as easy for us to access high-quality seafood like people on the coasts, so it’s important for me to be able to communicate the value of beef in a wholesome diet.”
McClurg adds that in regularly working with young adults, she sees a growing number who are overwhelmed by conflicting messages online.
“When influencers push fear-based messages without credible information, it creates anxiety around food choices,” she says. “My goal is to help drown out the noise and build confidence through facts not fear.”
It’s A Team Effort
Fellow participant Tony Castillo, a sports performance dietitian from Stuart, Fla., has worked with a variety of collegiate and professional athletes and sports teams in his career and places a special emphasis on including whole foods like beef and dairy in performance-focused diets to fuel his clients.
He says seeing the beef lifecycle up close from pasture to plate not only clarified questions he had about the process but also helped reinforce the team effort that goes into producing nutritious food.
“In sports nutrition, I always tell athletes that nutrition isn’t the whole pie – it’s just one slice,” he says. “You also need the strength coach, the mental performance coach, the hitting coach, and each one plays a role in supporting that athlete.
“It’s the same with cattle. There are multiple people invested in one animal, and seeing that collaboration firsthand made it clear just how much care and expertise goes into producing the food that fuels us.”
Nutrition Adventure is just one of many innovative checkoff-funded efforts designed to strengthen trust in beef by connecting influential voices with credible information and firsthand knowledge.
