| Location |
| In the Harold Cole Facility Building "C" |
| directly south of Meyer Hall across La Rue Road. |
| Entrance to the lab is from the |
| southeast end near the loading dock. |
| Hours |
| Open Thurs & Friday 1:00 - 5:30 p.m. |
| Phone |
| (530)752-7410 |
| Payment Methods |
| Cash and Check |
| Website |
| http://animalscience.ucdavis.edu/facilities/meat/index.html |
The campus Meat Lab sells a variety of high quality meats for fantastic prices. If you're planning on having a BBQ, or just need some meat, the Meat Lab is far superior to any other meat vendor in Davis, in terms of both quality and price. Unless you're looking for some specialty meat or fish in which case I would recommend the Nugget.
Most of the meat comes from university livestock which is slaughtered on campus. However, the demand for some beef products is so high that some of it is imported. The beef is all natural, grain fed and the pork is not injected with hormones. If you ever want specifics, you can ask the meat lab manager who can tell you everything you want to know.
The Meat Lab's prices change every so often and are available on the bottom of the Meat Lab's website.
Their Chips and Beer sausage is delicious. They have a variety of sausages that rotate from time to time. They also have flats of 30 chicken eggs (and occasionally quail eggs) for $6.
They rarely have everything on their list at all times, so its best to call ahead to check if you are looking for a specific cut. During the winter, they seldom have a call for lamb and don't carry it.
Directions
From 113, Exit Hutchison and head East. Turn right (South) on to La Rue Road. After the road curves, look for "Putah Creek Road" and turn right. Turn left at the yellow sign that says "Meat Science Laboratory." At the end of the white fence, turn left onto the gravel parking area and head for the Northeast corner. There is very limited parking available.
Other Uses
Beyond the direct classes in handling meat taught in the meat lab itself, samples taken during processing and entire processed carcasses are used by many different projects across campus. Fields that use samples from the Meat Lab include Animal Science, Food Science, Reproductive Physiology, Endocrinology, Molecular Biology, Nutrition, Veterinary Medicine, Entomology, and Microbiology. As an example, cattle blood collected during processing is used elsewhere on campus to feed mosquitoes used in research.
Media
* MyCattle.com — Article in 2004 about the Lab.
2006-04-10 19:38:28 Does anyone know if the meat from the meat lab is organic? Not a big deal for me, but one of my roommates wants to know. - ZacMorris
2006-04-11 12:04:47 I don't think that the campus raises organic meat, so no. —AllisonEriksen
2006-05-05 22:07:24 I'm not sure about this either, but if you're looking for "organic" = humane, I'm sure they're pretty good about it. —JulieEickhof
2006-09-29 12:35:23 The sausages are consistently great tasting and their smoked dog bones are to die for [or so say the dogs]! —AlphaDog
2006-09-29 18:44:22 Get some flank steak, marinate with lime and cumin and make some fajitas tonight! —JabberWokky
2007-02-02 16:15:19 their ground beef has a LOT of fat in it. otherwise great place. just got a nice tri tip to barbecue for the superbowl. —JoshBurkart
2007-05-08 18:39:40 Damn! yet another thing the wiki has taught me, I've got to hit this place up and BBQ —StevenDaubert
2007-08-13 15:41:18 I don't know what the precise definition of organic food is, but the article directly above does say "The beef is all natural, grain fed and the pork is not injected with hormones." Call them if you want to know more, there's a phone number and website listed above. —PhilSpear
2007-08-17 18:28:59 Just went there today to pick up some meat. I asked for 2 pounds of sirloin and they gave me a huge slab of meat (my gf told me they do the large cuts so it's up to me to cut them up smaller at home). +MEAT!!! +Large selection +Reasonable prices -No large signs, hard to find unless you're looking at the map. —atwong
2007-08-24 11:46:30 If you got in the morning, you can get some sweet eggs, but they said the supply is limited. —HakonHope
2007-11-25 20:42:14 I love the meat lab. Last Christmas I brought home their marinated tri-tip for only $5 a pound. It was the leanest beef I have ever had and it was a huge hit with my family —DonGibson
2008-07-18 22:09:43 With the price of eggs going up at the grocery store, paying $2.50 for 25 is a great deal. Tip: Bring 2 old 12-egg cartons, if you are biking home. The paper crates they provide are really flimsy.(The shells on some of the eggs are really thin.) —AmyTrinh
2010-05-27 16:49:28 No comments in a while so I thought I'd say that this place rocks. Just about everything here is awesome, but if you are looking for some real carne asada, you have to go to El Torito Meat Market in Woodland. —GarrettGallegos
2010-10-28 01:58:16 I don't know if it's just me but the price of the steaks, "rib eye @ 10 dollars lb" and porterhouse/filet mignon ,at USDA CHOICE quality is over priced. But there are a few exceptions, maybe I visited during a mediocre batch of steaks, but if by chance you find a USDA PRIME steak then it's worth it. I suggest going on Thursday afternoon cause that's when they get new stock. I did once find a USDA prime rib eye at 10$ a lb and that was definitely worth it, other times I'm just going through a pile of meat looking for anything near USDA PRIME. If you can't find USDA prime, then a nearby supermarket serving USDA CHOICE would most likely be cheaper. —MatthewYu
2011-12-29 21:41:53 supermarkets normally serve select, unless your at nugget, which is normally that price if not more. —shambler
2012-09-30 12:48:31 Does anyone know if the eggs are from chickens kept in cages — or cage-free? —Chamoudah
2015-09-14 17:12:15 How can they say that the quality of the meat is "superior" when it is grain-fed, not grass-fed? Does anyone know if they have any grass-fed animal products there? —romarin
- Nothing is labeled with regards to finishing feed. Your benefit here is that the animals are grown on campus, slaughtered for education on campus, processed on campus, and USDA inspected. It is superior insofar as you are buying food that was handled with great attention due to the small quantity processed. If you ask nicely and are willing to buy the whole cow, you might be able to get them to grow you a grass-fed cow. Otherwise, you should be looking towards buying from Yolo Land & Cattle who are a grass-fed cattle operation. -JudithTruman
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