When I was in graduate school, there was an unspoken rule: Do not use references more than five years old. I think that’s been a standard for some time now, and I think it’s the dumbest unspoken rule in academia. Here’s why: We are missing a lot of great research that has already been done. It is critical to look back and not repeat research we have already conducted. The results haven’t changed, and this unspoken rule is keeping our industry from making forward progress.

Looking back is the only way to keep things moving forward, especially when it comes to the development of new technology. We must review our historical knowledge (what worked, what hasn’t and why) before we can make any progress with efficiency, meat quality, sustainability, food safety and so on.

This historical review is especially important now. Our industry is having a huge amount of boomer retirements currently. These amazing individuals have been part of our industry for years. With their retirement comes a great loss of industry history and knowledge. Most importantly, we are losing the knowledge of what works and what doesn’t. At the same time, we have several new younger hires taking the place of these boomers. Unfortunately, there’s a huge knowledge gap between these new hires and the retirees.

I have noticed a trend of repeating research in the last year of attending many scientific conferences. I’m sitting in the audience thinking I did this study or a colleague conducted this exact research 20-25 years ago in graduate school. Why are we repeating what we already know? Again, this repeat of the same research is keeping our industry from forward progress.

There is now a lot of knowledge at our fingertips compared to my graduate school days. I had to physically go to the library and use the Dewey decimal system and microfiche! However, with all this knowledge available, we are not doing a very good job at taking the time to find out the scientific history of research in certain areas, especially meat quality, processing and further products in poultry.

My challenge to everyone in our industry is to learn as much historical knowledge from these retiring boomers. In addition, take the time to do thorough literature searches, and let’s build on the knowledge we already have. It does us no good to go backwards in research. Our industry needs new technology and forward progress in science to help sustain our ability to continue to be the most consumed meat in the world.

Reasons to remember

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