Corporate Responsibility

WASHINGTON - A Washington, D.C.-based law firm said on Wednesday it would file a class action suit against Kroger Co. charging that the company used racially discriminatory selection and promotion procedures, Reuters reported.

MINEOLA, N.Y. - Pollio Italian Cheese Company on Friday recalled certain Polly-O ricotta cheese packages and some foodservice ricotta products because of potential contamination from Salmonella bacteria.

NEW YORK - Philip Morris Cos. announced Thursday that it will seek shareholder approval in April to change its name to Altria Group Inc. in order to distinguish the company from its tobacco business, Dow Jones reported.

MALVERN, Pa. - Acme Markets, the Eastern Division of Albertson's, has been named a winner of the Chesapeake Businesses for the Bay 2001 Excellence Award.

California grocery chain Trader Joe's has agreed to ban genetically modified ingredients from its thousands of private-label products in response to consumer pressure, the Los Angeles Times reported today.

WASHINGTON - Congress is considering restoring food stamps to legal immigrants who stopped receiving benefits in the 1996 welfare overhaul, The Associated Press reported today.

CINCINNATI - Chiquita Brands International Inc. today announced that it has reached agreements with bondholder committees in support of a restructuring plan that will reduce Chiquita's debt and accrued interest by more than $700 million and its future annual interest expense by about $60 million.

NEW YORK - A county commissioner in San Antonio, Texas, on Thursday criticized Albertson's Inc. for closing three of its San Antonio stores on the South Side of town, calling the decision a "planned attack" on the community.