Spam turns 85 years old

MINNEAPOLIS -- An iconic product from a Minnesota company is celebrating a birthday on Tuesday.

Spam is turning 85.

You can bet the Spam Museum in Austin will be a popular place. More than 100,000 visitors flock to southern Minnesota every year to visit.

The name Spam emerged during a 1936 New Year's Eve party that inventor Jay Hormel threw for his "canned ham creation." They get the "S-P" from spice and "A-M" from ham.

Spam was officially introduced the next year, on July 5, 1937.

A few years later, the canned ham product fueled troops during World War II.

Hormel says over the past 85 years, they have sold over 9 billion cans of spam.