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

NJFC Meets with Assemblywoman Stender

This week, NJFC and several members met with Assemblywoman Stender to discuss a package of bills, sponsored by the Assemblywoman, that appear to directly target food retailers in New Jersey.  

NJFC expressed the industry's opposition to A-4109, which would require retail food stores to provide sanitation wipes for shopping carts. NJFC is concerned that this bill unfairly singles out food retailers. In addition, the bill is not based on sound science regarding cleaning and sanitizing standards.

The association is also strongly opposed to A-4110. This bill would require retail food stores to identify the State or Country of Origin of raw produce sold to consumers by either labeling the produce or by displaying the information near the item. NJFC is opposed to this mandate because it would present a logistical nightmare to retailers at the store level. Initiatives such as food labeling should only be addressed at the federal level so that retailers are not burdened with conflicting regulations between states.  

In addition, the Assemblywoman has introduced A-3994, a plastic bag recycling mandate that would require retailers larger then 10,000 square feet to establish in-store recycling programs for customers to return plastic bags to the store. Also, retailers would be responsible for the transportation of returned plastic bags to recycling facilities and would be responsible for maintaining records describing the collection and transportation of bags for a minimum of three years. Lastly, the bill requires supermarkets to make reusable bags available to the consumer for purchase.  

Most recently, Assemblywoman Stender introduced A-4119, which if signed into law would create a ≥No Mail≤ list that would prohibit the mailing of circulars soliciting the sale of consumer goods to addresses on the ≥No Mail≤ list.

NJFC is adamantly opposed to all four of Assemblywoman Stender's proposals. The Food Council will continue to express the industry's concerns with these bills in particular, and any State mandates on business in general, to legislative leaders. NJFC would like to thank the members who attended the meeting to provide an operations level perspective on these issues.  

This week, the New Jersey Business and Industry Association released its 2007 Health Benefits Survey.   The annual survey polls NJBIA members and is an accurate reflection on the business community's ability to provide health insurance to employees.  

The survey found that in 2006, the average cost of an employer sponsored health insurance policy rose by 11.3 percent to $7,561 per covered employee and 80 percent over the last five years. As a direct result of this substantial increase in health care costs, coverage has dropped among the smallest businesses in the State. For businesses with two to 19 employees coverage dropped 10 percent compared to just four years ago.

NJFC continues to advocate that addressing the skyrocketing costs is the only way to combat the Health Care crisis in New Jersey and allow business the ability to provide coverage to employees. NJFC will fight employer mandates that do not solve the overall issue of affordability.  

When Democrats took control of both Houses of Congress in January of this year, they promised an aggressive agenda to tackle many important issues within the first 100 days of assuming power.  

While Congressional Democrats have worked many hours, held many oversight hearings, and rushed six bills through the House in the first 42 hours of taking office, not one of the top legislative priorities outlined by the party have become law. The plan outlined by the Democratic Party included Health Care Reforms, Homeland Security, Retirement Security and an initiative to press the Iraqi government to more quickly assume responsibility of there stability, yet none of these proposals have reach the Presidents Desk as promised by the self imposed April 13, 2007 deadline.  

One of the major obstacles facing House Dems is the closely divided Senate, which affords each individual Senator more power within the chamber. In addition, President Bush has indicated that he would veto several bills currently being pursued in Congress including a Paid Leave initiative and an increase in the Minimum Wage, unless it included small business tax breaks.  

NJFC will continue to monitor Federal legislative action regarding the attempted increase of the Minimum Wage and Paid Leave proposals and will report to the membership any new developments.  

The National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) has named the Rutgers University Food Innovation Center as the ≥Business Incubator of the Year,≤ in the Services category. The NBIA represents about 5,000 business incubators and economic development accelerators worldwide.  

Each year, the NBIA honors the business incubation programs, client companies and program graduates that exemplify the best of the industry. The Rutgers Food Innovation Center offers business and technical expertise to farmers, agricultural cooperative, food business entrepreneurs, small and mid-sized established food companies and retail operations that promote locally sourced food products.

Register Now for the NJFC Trade Relations Conference
May 17 & 18, 2007, Tropicana, Atlantic City

Honoring
Jim Ostling, George Weston Bakeries

Featured Guest Speaker
Bruce Weitz, Kings Supermarkets

Photos Galore

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