North American Meat Processors Association

The North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP) is an industry group

Industry trade group

A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association or sector association, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry...

for meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

processors, packers, and distributors. It is a nonprofit, membership-based group with significant presence in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean. Its Executive Director is Phil Kimball. The Executive Committee includes John DeBenedetti, Chairman of Del Monte Meat Company (U.S.); Brent Cator, President of Cardinal Meat Specialists. Ltd (Canada); Mark Shuket, Vice President of Old World Provisions (U.S.); Michael Strauss, Treasurer of Colorado Boxed Beef Company (U.S.) and Gary Malenke, Assistant Treasurer of Sioux-Preme Pork Products (U.S.).

NAMP is concerned with meat industry issues including nutrition, safety and hygiene, government and regulatory affairs, and standardization. It sponsors an annual convention, an annual business conference, regional meetings, and training programs. It was founded in 1942 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia

Reston, Virginia

Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, within the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population was 58,404, at the 2010 Census and 56,407 at the 2000 census...

.

Primary membership is limited to firms actively involved in processing meat, including poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

, seafood

Seafood

Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...

, and game

Game (food)

Game is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...

. Associate membership is available to suppliers to meat processors.

NAMP is best known, however, for The Meat Buyer's Guide, intended for butchers and commercial meat purchasers, which is a recognized reference for cutting and grading meat. It is published annually. NAMP maintains a standard numbering system for cuts of meat.

See also