Spam is a
canned precooked meat product made by the
Hormel Foods Corporation. 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 to help keep its color. Spam's gelatinous glaze, or
aspic, forms from the cooling of meat
stock.
[1] The product has become part of many jokes and urban legends about
mystery meat, which has made it part of pop culture and folklore.
Varieties of Spam vary by region and include Spam Classic, Spam Hot & Spicy, Spam Less Sodium, Spam Lite, Spam Oven Roasted Turkey, Hickory Smoked, and Spam Spread.
[2] Spam sold in North America, South America, and Australia is produced in
Austin,
Minnesota, (also known as
Spam Town USA) and in
Fremont,
Nebraska. Spam for the UK market is produced in
Denmark by Tulip under license from Hormel.
[3] Spam is also made in the
Philippines and in
South Korea.
[4] In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold.
[5] Introduced on July 5, 1937, the name "Spam" was chosen when the product, whose original name was far less memorable (Hormel Spiced Ham), began to lose
market share. The name was chosen from multiple entries in a naming contest. A Hormel official once stated that the original meaning of the name "Spam" was "Shoulder of Pork and Ham".
[6] According to writer
Marguerite Patten in
Spam – The Cookbook, the name was suggested by Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president, who was given a $100 prize for creating the name.
[7] At one time, the official explanation was that the name was a
portmanteau of "Spiced Ham". According to the British documentary-reality show "1940's House", when SPAM was offered by the US to those affected by WWII in the UK, SPAM stood for Specially Processed American Meats.
Many jocular
backronyms have been devised, such as "Something Posing As Meat", "Specially Processed Artificial Meat", "Stuff, Pork and Ham", "Spare Parts Animal Meat" and "Special Product of Austin Minnesota".
[8] According to Hormel's trademark guidelines, Spam should be spelled with all capital letters and treated as an adjective, as in the phrase "SPAM
luncheon meat".
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