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Hormel was one of the first companies to successfully can meat. They were the first to can hams on a commercial basis. The success of the product came with World War II. For the first time, soldiers could eat meat in the trenches.

SPAM = spiced ham

ABOUT SPAM
“When the first blue and yellow cans came off the production line in 1937, the world was forever changed. No one would have guessed back then, but the revolutionary new product became a war hero, a pop culture icon and an American institution.

Over the years, the SPAM® Family of Products has made itself known around the world, winning over the hearts of soldiers, world leaders, chefs, kids and parents alike. In fact, Gracie Allen, Dwight Eisenhower, Margaret Thatcher and Monty Python all have sung praises of the SPAM® Brand.

From the first can to the seven billionth, SPAM® products have remained a versatile, high-quality and great-tasting meal-time favorite. They have also changed to meet the needs of an ever-changing marketplace. The SPAM® Family of Products appeals to the varied tastes and lifestyles of people around the world.” — Hormel

“Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Spam’s gelatinous glaze, or aspic, forms from the cooling of meat stock. The product has become part of many jokes and urban legends about mystery meat, which has made it part of pop culture and folklore. Through a Monty Python sketch, in which Spam is portrayed as ubiquitous and inescapable, its name has come to be given to electronic spam, including spam email.

In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold. On average, 3.8 cans are consumed every second in the United States”