As The National Provisioner (NP) celebrated its 100-year anniversary in April 1991, industry was struggling to meet ever-changing consumer demand for more … safer products, further value-added products, higher-quality products plus more convenient products and packaging.
When Andy recruited me to relive my tenure as a journalist covering the meat industry for a special issue commemorating The National Provisioner’s 125th anniversary, I knew squeezing an abundance of memories, experiences, joys and sorrows into a few hundred words of copy would be challenging.
More shoppers are purchasing a wider variety of proteins and cuts for their holiday dinners as they aim to make the meals less cumbersome and more dynamic.
While turkey remains the dominant center of the plate protein for Thanksgiving, consumption of such alternatives as pork, lamb, beef and chicken are on the upswing as more consumers seek variety, novelty and affordability when preparing for seasonal gatherings.
The Hormel Vital Cuisine brand is in its infancy, but it represents a direct effort by a protein-processing giant to impact a cancer-patient community desperate for food that meets hyper-specific nutritional and quality needs.
Fighting cancer has become serious business not only for academia and pharmaceutical companies, but also food companies, which have chipped in funding and expertise to help patients battling to get their lives back.
Voters for The National Provisioner’s Plant of the Year award this year faced a serious challenge, as each of the nominees — all processing facilities visited for cover stories from June 2015 through May 2016 — made a very strong case for winning the annual award.