Meat+Poultry - April 2023 - 41

PRESSING MATTERS
A top priority for her, NAMI and others in the
industry is Protein PACT and its vision for the
meat and poultry industry over the next few
years. Also of great importance to Potts is
what she is hearing from NAMI members about
their priorities for 2023 and years beyond.
What's more, the Institute has a great interest
in top-level politics at a national level, and
how political polarization affects the meat and
poultry industry now, as well as into the future.
The Protein PACT is a joint effort between
NAMI and its partners to accelerate the entire
animal protein sector's progress toward
global sustainable development goals for
healthy people, animals, communities, and
the environment. It involves packers and
processors who belong to NAMI, industry
allies, processors across the industry,
suppliers, and academics.
" Protein PACT includes five basic areas that
the meat and poultry industry is involved in:
the environment, food safety, animal welfare,
health and wellness, and labor and human
rights. " Potts said. The pact is an agreement
that NAMI and the industry have made to
improve what we do for consumers, for
example, " Potts explained.
" The main goal of Protein PACT is to
help the meat and poultry industry make
improvements in these five different areas.
Another goal is for packers and processors
to connect even more with the economy and
consumers, " she said.
The Protein PACT framework includes
issues like sustainability - the environmental
impact of protein production. Other areas
of focus include food safety, which has long
been the top priority of the meat and poultry
industry; worker safety; animal health; and
human health and nutrition.
" We didn't have the metrics or
measurements before this that would enable
the industry to deal well with these issues, but
using Protein PACT, which we've developed,
we now do, " Potts said. She sees it as an
industry commitment from partners across
animal protein as the largest-ever effort to
strengthen animal protein's contributions
to healthy people, healthy animals, healthy
communities, and a healthy environment.
" In these five areas of importance to
the industry, we've identified 92 metrics
or measurements that industry has been
collecting and submitting to our database. So,
what we're doing is creating an industry 'report
card.' Some people want to know about carbon
footprints, for example, and how that affects
industry operations. That will be part of it. "
" We started this data collection process last
summer (2022). The first report on progress
was released this past fall. But the project
really dates to the summer of 2019, and it
promises to be a massive, 10-year effort. We set
goals. And I can say that Protein PACT is not
something NAMI leaders just thought up, but it
has been driven by our NAMI membership.
" Part of the reason for the project is to
do a better job of telling consumers the truth
about the meat and poultry industry, how it
operates in a sustainable and responsible way,
as opposed to the negative story that has long
been portrayed about the industry, " Potts said.
Many people in the industry believe it is a
story circulated by people and organizations
who are working to end animal agriculture.
" For example, we've reduced workplace
injuries vastly. And any food safety issue is one
too many. But that story never seems to be told
in the media, " she pointed out.
" To tell our story, we're focusing also in
areas outside of national media, on social
media and other platforms. I have three kids -
two 19-year-old girls and a 16-year-old boy. My
one 19-year-old loves to cook and eat. And she
gets her news from TikTok, not the evening
news. So, we need to tell the meat industry
story on other platforms. "
STAKEHOLDER REQUESTS
Priorities NAMI members have asked the
association to work on in 2023 and beyond
include labor and trade.
" Labor is the biggest challenge our
members and other processors face, and that
was true even before the pandemic, " she said.
" I started working at NAMI in 2018, and the
first thing I did was visit many plants.
" I realized we had a very low
unemployment rate in the US. If we can't find
local workers to work in our plants, then
they must come from elsewhere. We need
to expand visa programs beyond production
agriculture, to packing and processing. If not,
the only other alternative is automation and
new technology. There is a shortage of workers
www.meatpoultry.com | 04.23 | MEAT+POULTRY 41
" Protein PACT
includes five
basic areas
that the meat
and poultry
industry
is involved
in: the
environment,
food safety,
animal
welfare, health
and wellness,
and labor and
human rights. "
- JULIE ANNA POTTS
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - April 2023

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