Questions about IMSP. Answers to help you plan.

IMSP is designed as a recurring training process. You learn a method, apply it and use later tastings to examine how understandable and repeatable your assessments are. Between the in-person blocks, you complete tasks, document tastings and apply what you have learned in your professional practice.

The intervals between blocks allow repeated application, reflection and calibration under changing conditions. The 2027 programme covers eight active training months from March to November; the core programme pauses in August.

View the curriculum

The eight two-day in-person blocks bring together guided training, live tastings, professional exchange and feedback. They total 16 in-person days and 120 hours. This schedule can be planned alongside work and connects group training with independent application.

In-person training is one part of the learning commitment. It is complemented by a total of 64 hours of digital learning and 32 hours of independent Tasting Kiosk sessions.

View the structure and in-person dates

Each active training month includes eight hours of digital learning and a four-hour Tasting Kiosk session. You should therefore plan around twelve hours per training month outside the in-person blocks. Including those blocks, the core programme totals 216 hours. Travel time is additional.

You consolidate the learning content, complete assignments and document your own tastings in Sensory-ID. Your results are revisited, compared and discussed in subsequent training.

Explore digital learning

IMSP develops professional sensory assessment in greater depth. You practise describing tenderness, juiciness, flavour and other characteristics using shared descriptors and scales, assessing blind samples and explaining your results. Knowledge of meat, origin, cuts, ageing and preparation is connected with documented assessment practice.

Repeat samples and calibration help you examine the consistency of your own judgement and distinguish personal preferences from professional assessment.

View the training content

IMSP is intended for meat sommeliers, master butchers, buyers, producers, chefs, quality managers and other professionals who assess or communicate meat quality in their work. Registration is made by a company or entrepreneur for business purposes.

If you are unsure how the programme fits your professional background, briefly describe your experience and learning goals to us at contact@imsp.pro.

You select an available training hub when registering. The current hubs are Grillwerk 63 by Fleischerei Seifert in Eppendorf, Germany, and Fleischhof Raabtal with the Fleischkompetenzzentrum Vulkanland in Kirchberg an der Raab, Austria. The Swiss hub is being prepared and cannot currently be booked.

The curriculum, learning objectives and assessment standards are the same at the training hubs. The optional international modules have their own practical partners and are offered separately.

View the training hubs and locations

Please inform us of absences as early as possible. Admission to the final assessment requires documented attendance for at least 70% of the in-person hours, or 84 out of 120 hours. Digital assignments and independent Tasting Kiosk sessions must also be completed and documented.

If minimum attendance is not met, appropriate, documented catch-up work is required. Essential content may also need to be made up after individual absences. The format, availability and any additional fees are agreed individually before a separate booking.

Attendance and absence rules

You receive a preconfigured Sensory-ID Training Device for the course. Course materials, videos, exercises, tastings and assessments are handled in the same digital learning environment. Sensory-ID access is included for the entire actual course duration.

The device is provided for the course duration. After the course, you can return it or acquire it under a separate agreement. Without an acquisition agreement, the device and accessories must be returned within 14 calendar days after the course ends. A purchase or subscription does not arise automatically.

Device and options after the course

Spain, Argentina and Japan are optional advanced modules with 30 training hours each. They are not required for the IMSP qualification and are not included in the core programme fee. Selecting them on the registration form records your interest only.

The professionally guided study excursions are offered and booked separately. Participants or companies book transport, accommodation and transfers independently with the respective providers. Specific travel dates and detailed programmes will follow after coordination with the local partners.

View the international country programmes

The qualification comprises a 90-minute written examination, a practical visual and sensory assessment including calibration, and an 8–10-page sensory project report with documented Sensory-ID data.

Each assessment component is passed with at least 70% of the available marks. A failed component cannot be compensated for by a higher score in another. The required in-person attendance and mandatory digital assignments and tastings must also be completed.

You receive the assessment criteria, submission deadlines, permitted aids and resit arrangements in a format you can save, in good time before the programme begins.

Assessment and qualification in detail

After meeting the programme requirements and passing the final assessment, you receive the IMSP certificate issued by M.E.A.T. GmbH with the qualification “International Meat Sensory Professional”. Graduates may use “IMSP” after their name.

The successful qualification also includes the designated graduate insignia: a pin, Professional Badge and personalised Professional Card.

View the qualification certificate

The 2027 core programme costs €3,600 net per person, plus the VAT legally due for the booking concerned. It includes 24 curriculum modules with 216 programme hours, Sensory-ID access during the course, the Training Device for the course and the welcome kit with cap, polo, shirt and lanyard.

After successful completion, you receive the certificate and the designated graduate insignia. Travel, overnight accommodation, meals not expressly included and the optional international modules are not part of the core fee.

View the included services and fee

50% of the agreed total fee is payable within 14 calendar days after the contract is concluded and the invoice is received. The remaining 50% is due no later than 14 calendar days before the agreed programme start, but not before the invoice is received.

For bookings made fewer than 14 calendar days before the programme starts, the full fee is due after receipt of the invoice and before participation. Individually confirmed instalment agreements are possible.

Read the payment terms

IMSP is offered exclusively for business bookings. Employees can be registered by their employer; self-employed people and sole traders can book for their ongoing business. The booking company or entrepreneur is the contracting party and is responsible for payment. Private bookings are not offered.

Enter the company, participant and training hub in the registration form and confirm the required declarations. By submitting via “Register with a binding obligation to pay”, and upon receipt by M.E.A.T. GmbH, the contract is concluded. You then receive the booking confirmation, participation terms and invoice by email.

Go to binding business registration

Please submit cancellations in text form, for example by email to contact@imsp.pro. The relevant date is when M.E.A.T. GmbH receives the cancellation, counted in calendar days before the first agreed mandatory in-person or digital programme component.

The percentages apply to the agreed net course fee. Saved expenses and eligible income from a replacement booking are taken into account. You may demonstrate that no loss or a lower financial loss occurred; the charge is then waived or reduced accordingly. Statutory rights remain unaffected.

Before the course starts, a suitably qualified replacement participant may be nominated under the participation terms. No cancellation charge applies when the substitution is confirmed. The core programme cancellation schedule does not apply to international study excursions booked separately.

Full cancellation terms