At High Caliber, when it comes to meat, our motto is “Safety First!”, so we work with the professionals. Our instructors are certified butchers, meat cutters and meat scientists – to ensure that the information we share is the same quality as the products we provide.
Meet Our Class Instructors
David Andersen
David started his career in food business at a small sausage processor. Working with Dutch and German sausage makers, he acquired his knife skills and learned how to make many different ethnic sausages After 5 years learning from the masters, he went on to make ham and bacon at Canada Packers. From there, he went to work for Woodward Foods at their Deli Farm plant where he ran the sausage kitchen and packaging departments, developing new products for Woodward’s Deli along the way.
After 7 years, David went to work for Lilydale Foods making sausage products. Promoted to manager of Research and Product Development, he worked on numerous projects and became familiar with the Leduc Food Processing Centre. One that he is particularly proud of was work on and sales of beef jerky to Japan, which they were able to grow to over 2 million dollars in sales as a side job. Since Lilydale was more poultry focused, the bulk of his work was on the processed products that you see in the stores today.
Next up was a career in sales working for a western spice company called UFL. After a stint there, helping customers develop new exciting products, David was lured back to work for Lilydale as Director of Research and Product development. A change in management saw David out of a job, and before long he was working at the food processing development center in Leduc where he stayed until he was called back to work for UFL, who had since been sold to a US company called Newlyweds Foods. He was the western sales manager there for 15 years and looked after accounts such as Maple Leaf and McCains among many other medium and smaller customers.
Currently, David is back into spic sales working as the Western Sales Manager for Blends. He keeps himself pretty busy restoring a classic cars (58 Austin Healy Sprite for example!), bike riding, motorcycle riding, wood carvings and whittling while sitting around the campfire in the summer months. During the winter, he builds plastic and wooden models and is a founding member of the Alberta Ship Modelers Society.
Aaron McLaughlin
Aaron has been active in the meat industry since 2000. He has had the opportunity to gain experience in almost every avenue of meat cutting and processing. His interest in sausage making was developed at a young age when he would make family recipes in the kitchen with a hand press. From there his career took him to small butcher shops, abattoirs, large grocery chains, high-end butcher shops, to finally instructing at Olds College in the National Meat Training Center.
Formally trained at SAIT in the Retail Meat Cutting Program Aaron knew his education was far from over. He spent 10 years in the fast paced meat market of Calgary, before taking on an instructing position at olds college.
Aaron has since retired from retail meat cutting and butchering, but still keeps up to dte with the industry. He knows that was once a busy career has turned into a hobby he is passionate about.
Brian Kosinski
Brian was trained as a professional butcher/chef and hails from a long line of sausage makers, stemming back to his European Grandfather who emigrated to Canada during the depression years. His family is still producing fine smoked goods in Europe to this very day. This knowledge, combined with over 31 years in the education field, rounds out Brian’s ability and skill set to inspire the beginner and intermediate sausage maker alike.
Trained professionally in sausage making, Brian brings a vast knowledge of smoking and culinary skills to the table with many tips to help you out. Brian has trained students of all ages and ability over the years and is willing to answer any questions on products, smoking and recipes in order to get you well.
