WASHINGTON– The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) announced a new partnership with the Information Technology-Information Sharing Analysis Center (IT-ISAC) on the launch of the Food and Agriculture ISAC to address cybersecurity threats in the meat and poultry industry.

ISACs are established by infrastructure owners and operators to foster information sharing and best practices about physical and cyber threats. 

The member-lead organizations collaborate with partners like NAMI, other sector ISACs, the Department of Homeland Security, academics and other stakeholders.

“We are grateful for the leadership of several of our members who helped found the Food and Agriculture ISAC to better prepare the industry to fight against the increasing threat of cyber attacks on our nation’s critical food infrastructure,” said Meat Institute president and chief executive officer Julie Anna Potts. “As a partner, the Meat Institute will support the Food and Ag ISAC and will promote its value among our membership. It is important to collaborate across all of agriculture because we all make significant contributions to each of production in the food value chain.”

The Food and Ag-ISAC provides threat intelligence, analysis, and effective security practices that help food and agriculture companies detect attacks, respond to incidents, and share indicators so they can better protect themselves and manage risks to their companies and the sector.

Food and agriculture industry companies may apply to join the Food and Ag-ISAC and those who are already members of the IT-ISAC can join the newly launched center for no additional cost. The founding members of the Food and Ag ISAC include Bunge Limited Inc., Cargill, Conagra Brands, Corteva Agriscience Inc., PepsiCo and Tyson Foods Inc. 

In 2021, NAMI’s executive board voted for cybersecurity to be a non- competitive issue and established a Cybersecurity Committee.

More details on ISACs can be found here.