What's my hamburger meat made of?

Outreach activities give high school students an opportunity to better understand the techniques and strategies used by researchers. Here is an experience with high school students designed to familiarize them with genetic methodologies. Students have been challenged to discover whether restaurant beef burgers are made with female or male beef. This represents a didactic way to introduce students to genetic traceability methodologies and also to demonstrate the usefulness of these methodologies in relation to food safety and, more importantly, in sustaining consumer confidence. The exercise is planned to be conducted in a one-day laboratory session.