Annual Meat Conference Exhibitors Donate More Than 28,000 Pounds of Meat and Poultry Products to Nashville Food Project

Washington, DC– Exhibitors at the Annual Meat Conference , co-hosted by FMI, The Food Industry Association and the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute), this week in Nashville, Tennessee, donated 28,000 pounds of meat and poultry products to The Nashville Food Project , a nonprofit that seeks to increase access to healthy foods in homeless and working poor communities across Davidson County, Tennessee.

The donation will provide 90,000 meals over six months.

"Meat Institute member companies have a long history of donating high-quality, nutritious meat and poultry products to help support hunger relief throughout our nation,” said NAMI President and CEO Julie Anna Potts.  “We are pleased to continue this tradition at a time when the Nashville community is in critical need. Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and those working to rebuild.”

“We have a wonderful relationship with the Nashville Food Project, and this sizable donation of high-valued protein to communities in need is yet another example of the impact that the food marketplace makes every day in their neighborhoods,” FMI President and CEO Leslie G. Sarasin commented. “We are uniquely positioned to make a difference in the communities we serve, and are frequently a beacon of hope to those experiencing physical and emotional loss due to natural disasters, like the tornado this week.”

An EF-4 tornado and related storms struck the Nashville area while the Meat Conference was held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. The storms killed 25 people and devastated many surrounding communities.