Last Friday, we sadly bid goodbye to Sam Gazdziak, a longtime editor on Independent Processor and The National Provisioner, and an all-around champion of the meat processing industry. His leadership has long guided our coverage of the smaller-scale, independent side of meat, poultry, and seafood, while also supporting the entire industry as a whole. He will be missed, and his body of work while at BNP Media will serve as a strong foundation for future work.

Thankfully, Sam is still in the industry, so he very well may cross paths with many in The National Provisioner audience in the future. His new role is communications manager for AAMP, the American Association of Meat Processors (read more about that move here, “AAMP hires new communications manager”). We wish him the best, and look forward to regularly collaborating with him and AAMP in the future.

In light of this development, we recently brought on Fred Wilkinson as managing editor. Fred has over two decades of experience as a journalist covering the food industry, including agriculture—most notably with The Packer. He has jumped right in on The National Provisioner, and you can see what he has been writing about on his author page.

While I’ve been working behind the scenes on The National Provisioner for several years now, overseeing editorial direction and strategy, I will assume a larger role on the publication moving forward. I’m no stranger to meat, formerly serving as culinary editor on Food Product Design and editor of CULINOLOGY (both addressed comprehensive retail and foodservice product R&D, including meat, poultry, seafood, and analogues). And my first love as a journalist was horticulture and agriculture, industries I covered early in my career. I’m looking forward to getting out in the meat and poultry industry this year, visiting processors and attending key industry events—connecting with people in person.

I’d love to hear from you—about the challenges you’re facing in today’s meat processing industry, and how you’re addressing those challenges. Please feel free to reach out and say hello, and start the conversation.