By Mandy Gross, FAPC Communications Services Manager

(STILLWATER, Okla. – March 2, 2017) – Oklahoma State University’s Robert M. Kerr Food & Agricultural Products Center is hosting a class to teach participants how to judge barbecued meats. The event will take place March 30 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the second floor of FAPC.

In addition to gaining valuable judging experience and improving their taste-testing skills, participants will receive a certified judging manual and earn a judging badge, said Chuck Willoughby, FAPC manager of business and marketing relations.

“Barbecue is really big in Oklahoma,” Willoughby said. “There are a lot of great barbecue sauces in the market, including well-established Oklahoma brands such as Head Country and newer ones like Trail Boss.”

Mark Simmons, former president of the Kansas City Barbeque Society, will teach the Certified Barbecue Judging Class. The KCBS is the world’s largest barbecue and grilling association sanctioning 150 contests across the United States each year.

Simmons began his membership by taking the Certified BBQ Judging Class in 2005. In 17 months, he judged more than 30 contests and became a Certified Master Judge. He has been a contest representative at more than 200 contests and trained more than 2,500 students on judging barbecue “The KCBS Way.”

“FAPC has worked with more than 30 Oklahoma brands of barbecue sauce - all very good tasting and of high quality,” Willoughby said. “Many Oklahoma grocers will carry up to 10 or 12 Oklahoma brands, outnumbering the national brands on the shelf about 4-to-1.”

These local brands, while typically costing more than the national brands, appeal to local consumers’ tastes and preferences, Willoughby said.

“There is a love affair between local brands and the typical grill master or smoke king in Oklahoma,” he said. “This event should appease everyone’s appetite for good barbecue and teach the fine intricacies of judging barbecued meats.”

The cost for the event is $75 for KCBS members and $100 for nonmembers. The nonmember fee entitles the participant to a one-year membership in the KCBS.

To register, contact Karen Smith at 405-744-6277 or karenl.smith@okstate.edu, or register online at www.fapc.biz/workshops/bbqclass. Registration must be received by March 17.

A block of rooms is reserved at the Home2 Suites by Hilton - Stillwater. Call 405-372-2550 and mention the group code FAP, or book online with the group code to get the $91 plus taxes special rate.

The event is co-sponsored by the Oklahoma Beef Council, Oklahoma Pork Council and Oklahoma Poultry Federation.

FAPC, a part of OSU’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, is celebrating its 20-year anniversary in 2017. Since its inception in January 1997, the center’s research laboratories, pilot-processing facilities, educational programs and seminars have kept food and agricultural processors and entrepreneurs on the forefront of cutting-edge value-added processing and technology.

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Oklahoma State University is a modern land-grant university that prepares students for success. OSU has more than 36,000 students across its five-campus system and more than 25,000 on its combined Stillwater and Tulsa campuses, with students from all 50 states and around 120 nations. Established in 1890, Oklahoma State has graduated more than 260,000 students who have been serving Oklahoma and the world for 125 years.