George A. HormelGeorge A. Hormel founded the Hormel Company in Austin, Minnesota in 1891, it is now one of the leading pork processors in the U.S. Hormel sold its first canned ham in 1926, and in 1937, Hormel invented SPAM, a ground pork-shoulder and ham product that was destined to become the world's largest selling canned meat. It was created to make use of surplus pork shoulder, mixing it with ham, salt, sugar and sodium nitrite. During WW II, Hormel sold more than half of its output to the U.S. government, which supplied SPAM to the armed forces of the U.S. and also to the U.S.S.R. under the lend-lease program. | 