A small abattoir was erected at the experimental farm at Beltsville, Maryland, in fiscal year 1915, when A.D. Melvin was Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry.  

The objective of the staff was to "follow the feeding investigations in meat animals (hogs) to a definite conclusion and note the effects of different feeds on carcasses."  Close collaboration was maintained with scientists working in animal nutrition, especially with swine, during the first decade.  The work was expanded in the early 1920s to include curing of pork from hogs finished on peanuts, soybeans, and feeds containing more saturated fats.  The facilities were expanded in 1922, 1927, 1937, and again in 1949 to provide needed space and type of facilities to conduct a broadening meats research program.  

In 1920, O.G. Hankins was hired to coordinate the large number of cooperating states engaged in soft pork studies.  In 1924, he and E.W. Sheets, chief, were active in the formation of the Conference on Cooperative Meat Investigations.  This expanded the meats research into the field of beef and lamb grading and evaluation.  During 1921, K.F. Warner arrived with the responsibility for the slaughtering, cutting, processing, and evaluating of carcasses of all hogs slaughtered at Beltsville.  He was active in developing an objective method for determining tenderness and curing of pork.  The Warner-Bratzler shear instrument was developed in the laboratory above the slaughter floor of the abattoir.    The Warner-Bratzler shear test for meat is the most widely used measurement of meat tenderness today.  In 1930, Warner was assigned to the extension staff.  Late in 1929, R.L. Hiner joined the staff with responsibility of supervising all operations of the laboratory and assisting in developing new measuring, cutting and grading procedures.   He expanded the research program to include pork curing, objective determination of firmness, tenderness, carcass quality and quantity, freezing and freezer storage.

The staff was enlarged in the mid-1930s to include biochemists working on flavor, microbiologists on curing, histologists on cell structure, physiologists and statisticians.  Cooperation was constantly maintained with other branches in the Division, obtaining data they needed and additional data deemed useful in furthering meats research.

Meat research was reorganized and divided into two divisions in 1954.  In 1954 meat research assigned to the Animal Science Research Division was directed to areas of developing objective methods for determining live animal composition; the use of carcass measurements to evaluate quantity of meat produced, growth and development of muscles, fat and bones in beef steers over extended periods of growth; objective measures of tenderness in the live beef animal; and palatability and intramuscular fatty acids of swine varying in fatness.

Meat research was also being conducted under the leadership of L. Feinstein, Acting Assistant Chief of Quality Evaluation Branch of the Market Quality Research Division in 1956 at Beltsville.  R. Kulwich joined the Branch in 1957 and began evaluating the usefulness of nondestructive K-40 gamma ray measurement as an index of lean content of hams and beef rounds.  Research on meat flavor, beef quality during storage and transportation and cathepsins was carried out by the two investigations which emerged in 1964.  I. Hornstein led the Meat Flavor investigations and K. Hoke was leader of the Meat Quality investigations.   

In 1967, the investigations were combined under the leadership of Anthony W. Kotula.  In 1971, a substation at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, Clay Center, Nebraska was added to the investigations.  Research was directed toward: (a) determination of physiological, biochemical, and microbiological factors associated with the quality deterioration of meat and livestock products during marketing, (b) the development of improved objective methods for evaluating meat quality attributes and (c) development of practical methods for handling, processing, packaging, storing and transporting meat and livestock products to improve their quality during marketing.  such studies were carried out to directly benefit the Inspection and Grading Services, the meat industry and the consumer.

In 1972, the Agricultural Research Service was reorganized and a new laboratory, the Meat Science Research Laboratory (MSRL), was formed.   The laboratory was housed in a completely renovated building (#201) on the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center Eastside complex.  The laboratory's mission was to enhance both ante- and postmortem muscle/meat quality and safety. 

Al Hayden, Katzuto Ono, Richard Hiner, and Ronald Smalley joined the laboratory in 1972, with H. Russell Cross becoming a member of the staff in 1973.  Bradford W. Berry  joined MSRL in 1977 and both Norman J. Stern and William A. Moats joined in 1979.  Morse B. Solomon became a member of the scientific staff in 1983 and took over the leadership (Research Leader) responsibilities of the laboratory in 1991 from Anthony W. Kotula.   George F. Fries was transferred into MSRL in 1994.  The laboratory's name was changed to Food Technology and Safety Laboratory as part of the Beltsville Area reorganization/realignment plan of FY 2001.

The newest members to join the scientific staff are  Martha N. Liu (2002),  Jitu R. Patel (2003), and Brian C. Bowker (2004).