Industry Advocacy

WASHINGTON, DC - The industry gained an influential ally Thursday in its campaign to get the federal government to stop requiring that all stores divested in a market area when two chains merge go to a single buyer.

BOISE, Idaho - Albertsons on Wednesday unveiled "Preferred Customer" loyalty cards at its 183 Northern California supermarkets, becoming the last major grocery chain in the state to embrace the controversial membership club program, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Global supermarket retailers Tesco, based in the UK, and Carrefour, based in France, are among a group of retailers being accused of indulging in unfair trade practices in Thailand, according to an inquiry panel established by the Trade Competition Committee, the Bangkok Post reports.

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda - Food Distributors International president and CEO John R. Block assured the association's last-ever Midyear Executive Conference on Saturday that wholesalers will continue to have a strong voice after FDI is absorbed by the Food Marketing Institute in January.

ATLANTA - The Procter & Gamble Co. has filed a suit against Georgia-Pacific Corp. to protect its trade secrets in the manufacturing technology used to make Bounty towels and Charmin bath tissue, the Atlanta Business Journal reports.

SAN FRANCISCO - About 200 restaurants, grocers and seafood distributors pledged Wednesday not to buy, serve or sell fish created by biotechnology, joining some environmental groups and fishermen in opposing genetically engineered seafood, The Associated Press reports.

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - Late Tuesday Hershey Trust Co. officially removed Hershey Foods Corp. from the auction block, The Associated Press reports.

BRUSSELS - North American companies and governments are stepping up a campaign asking European Union lawmakers to modify controversial labeling proposals for genetically modified foods, Dow Jones Newswires reports.