As a veteran of 55 years associated with the great U.S meat industry, I commend The National Provisioner for its efforts to cover the 125th Anniversary of the magazine by highlighting historical activities of the industry. It is a worthy and challenging assignment!
In my early years in the 1960s, the magazine was known as the poor company’s trade association, because it arrived every week, on time, by U.S. mail and informed its readers what was going on in plants and in Washington. It was also linked with The Yellow Sheet, which was the source of price information that larger companies got on the Teletype machine and smaller companies got in the U.S. mail. Betty Stevens, editor-in-chief of The National Provisioner during that time, had her ear to the ground in Washington and reported in a very timely way the rulemaking that occurred after the passage of the Wholesome Meat Act in 1967 — rulemaking that was not completed until publication in the Federal Register on Oct. 3, 1970. I still have my working copy!