The North American Meat Association (NAMA) and the Meat Import Council of America (MICA) will co-locate their fall 2013 conferences during the Food Processing Suppliers Association (FPSA)’s PROCESS EXPO in Chicago, IL, November 3 – 6, 2013, the three associations announced.

The joint announcement was made during NAMA’s Outlook Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

NAMA and FPSA signed an agreement to support each other’s events, and FPSA will have a presence at the NAMA MEATXPO'13 in Las Vegas, February 10-13, 2012.

As the recognized leader in meat industry food safety education, NAMA will assist in developing the meat education programming at PROCESS EXPO in a dedicated theater on the show floor at McCormick Place. NAMA’s Outlook Conference general sessions and forums will take place in the theater.

Other NAMA events will take place at The Drake Hotel, which FPSA has designated the meat industry headquarters hotel. MICA will hold its annual conference concurrently at the hotel.

NAMA is one of the larger associations in the global meat trade, with about 700 member companies in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries. NAMA provides its members regulatory guidance, workplace issues support, legislative analysis, media assistance, and great educational opportunities.

"We are extremely excited about working with NAMA and bringing the Outlook Conference to PROCESS EXPO," said David Seckman, FPSA President & CEO. "The hundreds of equipment manufacturers and service providers for the meat industry on our show floor are an excellent complement to the world class educational program of NAMA's Outlook Conference. By bringing these two important events together, we are confident that attendees to both will benefit greatly."

MICA is a trade association representing the U.S. industry that imports fresh, chilled and frozen beef and sheepmeat into the United States.

MICA’s membership of 130 companies includes importers, brokers, processors, overseas suppliers, refrigerated warehouses, customhouse brokers, shipping companies, port authorities and other companies who provide services in connection with imported meat, with the main focus being on imports from non NAFTA suppliers.

PROCESS EXPO is a biennial trade show event, highlighting manufacturing solutions for the global food and beverage industry. It attracts more than 500 companies that exhibit their processing and packaging equipment and services to over 12,000 professional attendees from companies across the entire spectrum of the horizontal food and beverage industry.

Source: NAMA