Welcome Dr. Charles Starkey!

Dr. Charles Starkey

As many in the rendering industry know, after more than 18 years at NARA and a lifetime in the animal agriculture industry, Dr. David Meeker has retired from his position as The Fats and Proteins Foundation (FPRF) Research Director, and NARA’s Senior Vice President of Scientific Services. Read the press release announcing Dr. Meeker’s retirement. NARA thanks Dr. Meeker for his time and dedication to the rendering industry, and though the farewell was bittersweet, NARA

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NARA Talks Sustainability at USDA’s Food Loss and Waste Innovation Fair

NARA Logo

Earlier this month, on September 14th, NARA’s Director of Communications, Anna Wilkinson joined other esteemed speakers from the agriculture, reduced food waste and sustainability industries for USDA’s 2nd Annual Virtual Food Loss and Waste Innovation Fair. In her presentation titled “Rendering: The Unsung Hero of Sustainability,” she detailed why the often-overlooked rendering industry is actually a major player in the reduction of food waste. She discussed rendering’s important role in not only food waste reduction

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NARA President Testifies on Rendering Sustainability Benefits at House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis

U.S. Capitol Building

On July 15th, President, and CEO of the North American Renderers Association (NARA), Kent Swisher, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Climate Crisis on the sustainability benefits of rendering. Swisher was one of four witnesses testifying and the sole representative of the agriculture sector. He was joined by Dana Gunders, Executive Director, ReFED, Dr. Melinda Cep, Vice President for Natural Solutions and Working Lands, National Audubon Society, and Elly Brown,

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Rendering’s Sustainability Story Gets a Boost: Feature Article Published in 3 International Agriculture and Animal Nutrition Magazines

International Petfood Magazine June 2022

Rendering education continues to be a top priority at NARA. The more awareness there is about what rendering is and what we do, the more renderers and NARA members can showcase rendering’s important contributions to reduced food waste and sustainability as a whole. Agricultural rendering is an industry that has largely “flown under the radar” for many years, but we are now proudly sharing our sustainability story. Rendering is by definition sustainable as we are

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Happy Hamburger Month!

National Hamburger Month

According to who you ask, May is the National month of various beef products with Wikipedia listing 3 National days dedicated to the meat within the month including National Italian Beef Day, National Brisket Day and National Burger day (on May 27, 28 and 29th respectively), and many celebrate the entire month of May in honor of hamburgers.   The hamburger: though a category all its own, it is arguably America’s favorite “sandwich” and certainly

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Dr. Meeker Receives Prestigious Tallow Master Award

Dr. David Meeker Receives the Tallow Master Award

NARA and FPRF’s Senior Vice President of Scientific Services, Dr. David Meeker, has been presented with the prestigious Tallow Master Award in appreciation of his distinguished service and outstanding contributions to the American rendering industry.   The award was presented at the Pacific Coast Renderers Association annual meeting in Laguna Niguel, California, earlier this month.   In his acceptance of the award, Meeker said, “Working for renderers has been the best job of my career.

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NARA.org Website Tour

Man working on his laptop

Are you interested in learning more about rendering and how it’s connected to sustainability, reduced food waste and biofuels?   Are you in the rendering industry and looking for news and information about the industry, or want to learn more about the North American Renderers Association?   Recently our website got a big makeover, and in today’s blog we want to give you a tour of NARA.org and go over some pages you may find

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The Importance of Rendering Education

The facts about rendering NARA infographic

From the perspective of NARA’s newest staff member, Communications Director Anna Wilkinson   When I started work at NARA nearly two years ago, I was struck by the scant amount of information publicly available about rendering when I searched for it. Yes, our association had an informative website with educational resourcces on rendering specifically, but a general, online search of “rendering” yielded every definition except the one that explains what we do. Top results were

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Why Rendering is so #Sustainable

Sustainable impacts of rendering

When you think of Earth Day you probably think of #Sustainabilty, right? But do you think of rendering? In honor of April as Earth Month and the 50th anniversary of #EarthDay, we invite you to learn why rendering is one of the most sustainable practices to avoid food waste and recycle leftovers into fresh ingredients for new products. First, let’s begin with a definition of rendering. Render, from the French verb rendre, meaning “to give

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The North American Renderers Association (NARA) is an Equal Opportunity Employer. It does not discriminate in the terms and conditions of employment on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other factor prohibited by law.

As a participant in USDA programs, we share the commitment to comply with all federal, state and local civil rights laws and those of the USDA. More about this commitment is available on the USDA website page here.