The benefits of membership Promotion, development, and improvement of the business of country ham curers, and to encourage the sale and use of country cured meats through co-operative methods of production, promotion, education, advertisement, and trade shows are primary goals of the National Country Ham Association. The National Country Ham Association has developed the "Taste the Tradition" brochure. This brochure takes country ham into the new century with innovative recipes created by famous, high-profile chefs from across the country. We are very excited about this publication and have already generated a mailing list of some 8,000 individuals requesting information about country ham. Articles generated from the NCHA marketing efforts have been published in the Hartford Currant, The Daily Press, Virginia Pilot, The New York Times, The Charlotte Observer, and Cuisine Magazine as well as other publications. An example of only one article published by the NCHA, "Tasteful Traditions", has generated 520 newspaper articles in 28 different states with a readership of 60,089,072. The cost of buying this space would have been $223,038.62. Relationships have been formed with television and radio producers as well as food editors across the country. The National Ham Association has also published a traditional country ham cookbook to include all country cured meats. We look forward to making this a really valuable tool in promoting country-cured meats, for just plain good eatin'! It has been agreed by the NCHA board that all members and friends of NCHA whose recipes are published in this cookbook will retain full right to use their recipes in any other publications as they wish. So please send whatever good cooking ideas you have, not just for country-cured ham but all country-cured meats in general - sausage, bacon, etc. Your name will appear just under the recipe title. At it's annual meeting in 1999 The National Country Ham Association's board of directors appropriated $30,000 for a Pathogen Reduction Study to be performed by the University of Georgia. USDA/FSIS gave the NCHA the opportunity to perform the study under the parameters of our choice, instead of being told what the parameters are. The information from the study is invaluable as most country ham curers fell under the new HACCP Rule in January 2000. As members of the NCHA the results of the study will be available to you up to two years before publication. The completed study was presented on July 1, 1999 at our summer Board of Directors meeting and is now available to members only!