Registration Open for Annual Meat Conference March 7-9 in Orlando

ARLINGTON, VA — January 12, 2010 — Registration is now open for the industry’s premier retail meat merchandising educational event, the Annual Meat Conference, slated for March 7-9, 2010, at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida. This event is co-sponsored by the American Meat Institute (AMI) and Food Marketing Institute (FMI).

The conference each year attracts 800 members of the retail food and meat industries. It is considered the leading educational event focusing on meat and poultry marketing innovations, merchandising issues and consumer purchasing trends.

Associate sponsors include the American Lamb Board, Beef Checkoff, National Chicken Council, National Pork Board and National Turkey Federation.

Scheduled general session topics include the impact of the economy on business, optimizing business intelligence, results from the annual Power of Meat survey, sustainability and how to prepare for the future. Workshops will focus on business decision-making, food safety, responding to animal welfare concerns, regulatory updates, crisis communication, strategies for adding value for consumers, using new technologies and future trends.

The 2010 conference will feature the popular Product Tasting Reception on March 8. Nearly 50 meat and poultry companies are expected to showcase new products and brand line extensions to retail buyers.

AMC 2010 also will feature the annual Technology Fair on March 8 starting at 10:45 a.m. At this one hour networking session, suppliers to the meat, poultry and retail supermarket industries display new technology, ranging from irradiation systems to labeling machinery to in-store processing and packaging equipment. Following the exhibit will be a luncheon.

The advance registration fee for the conference is $595 per person, or $545 for three or more members of the sponsoring associations. On-site registration is $695 per person, or $645 for three or more members registering together, or $515 when five or more retailers/wholesalers register together. The nonmember registration rate is $1,290 per person.

Visit www.MeatConference.com to view the complete conference program and register online.

Note: This event is open to the news media.

Media Contacts:
Tonya Allen, AMI, 202.587.4221 / Bill Greer, FMI, 202.220.0667