Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Timothy J. Noonan, the former Rite Aid Corp. executive who helped federal prosecutors build a securities-fraud case against his colleagues, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony charge of withholding information from the company's internal investigators.

WASHINGTON - More Americans are now changing their cooking habits in response to warnings about pathogens in undercooked meats, the Agriculture Department said Monday.

LOS ANGELES - California's Gov. Gray Davis has signed a law making it a misdemeanor to illegally sell meat or other foods that are falsely represented as meeting Muslim dietary laws, The Associated Press reports.

TROY, Mich. - Kmart Corp. on Friday was asked by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee to turn over records as part of a large-scale probe of the management of some publicly traded companies, The Associated Press reports.

WASHINGTON - U.S. health officials said Friday they approved a new sweetener, neotame, that is about 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar, Reuters reports.

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration ruled Tuesday that water laced with nicotine is illegal, ending a California company's bid to begin selling bottles later this month, The Associated Press reports.

CHICAGO - European plans to label gene-altered foods and require data tracking their movement threatened a new transatlantic trade row on Wednesday as U.S. grain sector officials said they are unworkable and would lead to higher food costs, Reuters reports.

MONTVALE, N.J. - The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc. today filed its fiscal year 2001 annual report on Form 10-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission several weeks after the document was due.