Following the Annual Meat Conference in Dallas, Texas — co-hosted by FMI, The Food Industry Association and the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) — exhibitors donated meat and poultry products to The North Texas Food Bank, a nonprofit devoted to closing the hunger gap in North Texas. The donation will provide more than 6,930 meals.

"Members of the Meat Institute are continuing a long tradition of giving back to their communities and are glad to be able to support the people of North Texas with this donation of meat and poultry products,” said NAMI President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “It is part of our members’ commitment in the Protein PACT to help measure and close the protein gap by 2025. According to Feeding America, meat is one of the top three most needed foods for food charities.”

“We continue to support the industry’s work of increasing donations to food banks and other organizations that nourish neighborhoods, which is aligned with stated objectives to the White House Conference on Nutrition and Health to donate two billion meals in 2023,” FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin said. “On behalf of the Annual Meat Conference community, we are proud to make a hunger-mitigating donation of nearly 7,000 protein-enriched meals to the North Texas Food Bank following our Dallas event.”

“We’ve seen a 15% increase in need here in North Texas since last year—and it continues to grow with inflation and governmental cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” said Roderick Ruth, manager of Food Donations for the North Texas Food Bank. “Meat proteins are some of the most sought-after items in our feeding network, so we are very grateful to work with the North American Meat Institute and FMI at this year’s Annual Meat Conference. Through this partnership, we were able to rescue 6,930 meals for our hungry neighbors in our 13-county service area.”

Continuing its close partnership with the Meat Institute in hosting the Annual Meat Conference, FMI is also a key endorser of the Protein PACT.

In 2022, Meat Institute members made more than $9 million in food security donations, including to build and expand infrastructure to safely store and package fresh meat. An index of Meat Institute members’ efforts to end hunger is available here.

Source: NAMI