The National Meat Association (NMA) and the North American Meat Processors Association (NAMP) made their consolidation into a new association official today, the two associations announced in a joint statement.

The NAMP Board approved the consolidation agreement and by-laws of the new association in a special meeting Friday afternoon. The NMA Executive Committee, acting on behalf of the NMA Board, approved the documents on Thursday. Members of both associations voted overwhelming for the consolidation last month.

This action sets in motion establishing a new North American meat industry trade association consisting of member companies of both groups, and the termination of NMA and NAMP as separate entities. The target date for the start of the new association is July 1, 2012.

The new association will be one of the larger trade groups in the global meat trade, with more than 700 member companies in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and other countries. Nearly 400 of them are meat processors.

NMA is the successor organization to the Western States Meat Association, which was formed by the mergers of Western States Meat Packers Association, Pacific Coast Meat Association and Mountain/Plains Meat Association. The organization became the National Meat Association in February 1995.

NAMP was established in 1942 as the National Association of Hotel and Restaurant Purveyors. It changed its name several times, most recently in 1996. NAMP developed its Meat Buyer’s Guide® in 1961, which the new association will continue.

Source: NAMP, NMA