Associations

WASHINGTON - C. Manly Molpus, president and c.e.o. of the Grocery Manufacturers of America here, yesterday called on the U.S. and Canadian governments to work for greater harmonization of regulatory standards to promote increased trade and efficiency in the movement of goods across the border.

ST. LOUIS -- Members of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 655 will take a strike vote Oct. 7 after rejecting a new contract proposal offered by the three largest grocery chains in the area Tuesday.

ST. LOUIS -- Save-A-Lot's director of government and community relations, Wendy Ardagna, today joins Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.; Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn.; and other panelists for a discussion about the critical role parents play in helping their children make good decisions in adolescence about love, sex, and relationships.

TRENTON, N.J. - An ex-CEO and chairman of a New Jersey grocery cooperative pleaded guilty Thursday to plotting to cheat it and the Internal Revenue Service by disguising embezzled funds as business expenses, The Associated Press reports.

WASHINGTON - A proposed Mexican regulation banning bulk exports of Tequila and requiring all bottling to occur south of the border is a violation of Mexico's treaty obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement and World Trade Organization, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States charged on Wednesday.

ELMWOOOD PARK, N.J. -- An astounding 50 percent of food industry professionals surveyed by the Food Institute don't know that all domestic and most foreign food manufacturing and distribution facilities must register with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by Dec. 12 of this year as FDA implements the Bioterrorism Act. Another 21 percent know about the requirement but have done nothing to prepare.

LOS ANGELES -- A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board has stopped a union election by a group of workers a Clinton, Md. Wal-Mart, Reuters reports.

Washington, D.C. -- Responding to the confusion and controversy abounding within the produce industry about the new mandatory Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law, the United Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Association's board of directors issued a statement yesterday to better explain its position.