ARLINGTON, Va. — The Meat Institute this month is celebrating its 120th anniversary, marking 12 decades of representing and serving the meat and poultry industry.
Several of its members recognized the historic milestone in a celebratory video.
“For 120 years, the Meat Institute has stood alongside the men and women who feed this country and the world,” Julie Anna Potts, Meat Institute president and CEO, said in the announcement. “This anniversary is a celebration of their work — the packers, processors and suppliers who show up every day to sustainably nourish local and global communities with wholesome meat and poultry. I’m extremely proud to lead this organization into its next chapter, and grateful for the members who have carried it here.”
The organization’s roots trace back to 1906, when it was founded in Chicago as the American Meat Packers Association, shortly after Congress passed the Federal Meat Inspection Act. The organization devoted much of its early efforts to helping its member companies adjust to the new federal inspection requirements, while also advocating for greater meat export opportunities and sponsoring early meat nutrition research.
In 1919, the organization was renamed the Institute of American Meat Packers, and by 1940 it had adopted the name American Meat Institute as it expanded its work in consumer education, scientific research and industry promotion. AMI relocated its headquarters to Washington, D.C. in 1979 to be closer to federal policymakers as regulatory and legislative issues took on greater importance for the industry.
In 2015, AMI merged with the North American Meat Association to form the North American Meat Institute, bringing together the industry’s leading trade organizations to speak with one unified voice on food safety, regulatory and policy issues. In 2024, the organization shortened its name to the Meat Institute as part of a broader rebrand.
Today, the Meat Institute represents packers, processors and suppliers across the country, providing members with regulatory guidance, advocacy before federal, state, local and international decision-makers, market access, research and a community of industry peers — all in service of a shared vision to sustainably nourish local and global communities with wholesome meat and poultry, the association noted in its release.
To mark the milestone, the Meat Institute hosted its first-ever Meat Week in September, which included the organization’s annual Fly-In — bringing more than 40 member companies to Capitol Hill to meet with lawmakers and administration officials — and the second annual All-American Meat-Up at Nationals Park, celebrating the people and products behind American agriculture and animal protein.
