New Jersey Food Council
30 West Lafayette St., Trenton, NJ 08608
Phone: 609/392-8899
Fax: 609/396-6571
Email: njfc@njfoodcouncil.com

General Assembly Passes Shopping Cart Bill

This week, the General Assembly approved an NJFC Loss Prevention Committee initiative, sponsored by Assemblywoman Cruz-Perez, which would require local governments to provide 72 hours notice to a retailer when a stray shopping cart is discovered in a municipality before imposing fines for recovery on a retailer.

Currently, NJFC members are falling victim to stiff fines and penalties when shopping carts are removed from their premises. In order to avoid these fines, food retailers have employed teams of associates that travel throughout a municipality tasked with retrieving shopping carts thus increasing labor and transportation costs for business and tying up resources that could be better used to serve consumers.

A-3925 was unanimously approved by the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee earlier this year and has now swiftly passed the full General Assembly without any opposition. NJFC will now work on the Senate side to seek a strong Senate sponsor that will introduce this proposal on behalf of the industry.

Raincheck Policy Disclosure Act Effective March 1, 2007

New Raincheck Policy Disclosure requirements, signed into law by Governor Corzine last summer, will go into effect on March 1, 2007. The new law requires retailers to post their company raincheck policy, if one exists, in at least one of the following locations:

• a cash register or location of the point of sale;
• in a location that is clearly visible to the buyer;
• at each store entrance used by the public;
• the location where the merchandise was offered for sale;
• in an advertisement for merchandise; or
• printed on the receipt of sale

Governor Corzine Signs School Nutritional Policy

After vigorous debate over the course of two legislative sessions, New Jersey has proceeded with an onerous and short sighted school nutritional policy that bans the sale of certain food in schools.

Governor Corzine signed S-1218, which codifies existing Department of Agriculture regulations, finalized last year. NJFC was actively engaged on both the regulatory and legislative fronts to fight this piecemeal attempt to address obesity issues and use the food industry as a scapegoat for rising obesity levels among children.

NJFC continues to support healthy lifestyles, as is advocated by the State Obesity Prevention Task Force, not food bans and the elimination of choice. The Task Force has worked in depth on these issues and has made no recommendation that governments ban food or restrict the availability of food. If lawmakers truly want to solve the obesity epidemic in New Jersey there must be a community based approach, which addresses proper nutritional education, diet, exercise and lifestyle.

NJFC is disheartened that lawmakers have ignored these important components of the solution and will continue to advocate the recommendations of the State Obesity Prevention Task Force in future obesity related discussions.

Night of Distinction to be Held on March 22!

The NJFC Annual Night of Distinction event will be held on March 22, 2007 at the Sheraton Meadowlands in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Call the NJFC office today to register for this popular industry networking event.

Please join us as we recognize Dean Durling of Quick Chek, Judy Spires of Acme and Joel Perlmutter of Perlmart ShopRites with Industry Achievement awards.

In addition, this yearπs event will feature a Texas Poker exhibition, which is quickly becoming a popular tradition at the event. Please join us in celebrating these fine industry achievers.

Photos Galore

Don't forget to check out our library page to view photographs from our events including our recent Loss Prevention Conference & Exhibition.